Why am I lying on the ground? I pondered my circumstance as I gained consciousness. Pulling myself off the ground, I began to assess my environment. Gazing ahead, I saw a city. "So helpful," I mumbled sarcastically to myself.
"Apple grass," a familiar voice sounded in the distance.
"Apple grass!" I watched an intrigued Rose Tyler and felt the excitement grow in my stomach.
New Earth! I thought to myself.
"Oi! Hello!" I called to them. Rose turned around with a grin and quickly began making her way towards me. The Doctor, on the other hand, looked at me like a child on Christmas morning.
"Diana!" He called, sprinting towards me. He lifted me into the air with a bone-crushing hug, spinning the two of us around.
"Okay, okay," I patted his back with a silent prayer to be set down. "You're going to make both of us ill."
"Oh, fine," The Doctor laughed, finally releasing me from his vertigo-inducing "hug."
Rose came over to greet me, giving a much appreciated calm hug.
"Well, this is a lovely dream so far!" I stated, a bit winded still from the spinning.
Rose's smile fell and the Doctor looked at me with a newly defeated expression.
"You still think this is a dream?" He asked.
I nodded slowly, a bit confused. "This is a dream," I said, almost in an attempt to reassure myself more than anything.
"You looked early but I didn't think you were this early." The Doctor mumbled as he ran a hand through his hair.
"What do you mean 'Early?'" I cocked an eyebrow in the air in suspicion.
"How many times have you," he hesitated as if he was trying to find the right word, "Dreamt about me?"
"This is the second time," My eyebrows knitted together. Confusion seeped through my voice and quivered with each word, revealing more and more. My body was betraying me, as it liked to do.
Reaching up with a tentative hand, I gently pressed it to the Doctor's cheek.
"How does this feel so real?" I asked, searching his eyes for some hint of truth. "I know this is a dream, but it feels so real." The Doctor had closed his eyes, leaning into my touch. Grasping my hand, he kept it pressed firmly against his cheek.
"Do you remember what I said in your first dream? When I was still Big Ears?" He asked, eyes still closed. I chuckled at the name and responded almost immediately since that dream stuck out in my mind so vividly.
"You told me that this was a dream for me, but reality for you. You said our universes were connected."
"Precisely," He had finally opened his eyes and brought my hand down from his face but for some reason, still held onto my hand. Not that I minded.
Rose decided to step forward, "You told me once," she began, shuffling her feet. "That you thought the reason you're able to come to this universe was because of the emotional attachment you have to the show in your universe that is of ours. I still find that part a bit strange..." She trailed off.
I noticed that the Doctor hadn't taken his eyes off of me during Rose's explanation. "But that isn't possible! This is just a dream!" I exclaimed as I pulled away from the two of them in frustration.
The Doctor looked at me with sad, brown eyes. "For you, this is a dream. For me, this is real." He said quietly.
"Please, Diana." He whispered. "I know it's hard, but you have to believe us."
It formed an aching deep inside of me to see this character I have come to know and care for, pleading so desperately for me to believe his words.
"Maybe if we explore a bit here, you'll believe us?" Rose offered with hopeful eyes.
"I don't know…" I said warily.
"Oh, that's a brilliant idea! Come on!" The Doctor grabbed mine and Rose's hands and we set off.
oOo
Once we reached our desired spot, the Doctor spread out his long, brown trench coat on the grass. Smiling, Rose sat and pulled me down next to her as the Doctor was positioning himself next to me.
"So, the year five billion… the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted," The Doctor stated nonchalantly.
"Well isn't that a cheerful way to describe it!" I say in a high pitch voice, sarcasm dripping off each word.
"You're always so sardonic!" Rose grinned.
"So I take it you've seen me enough times to know that I am highly skilled in the art of sarcasm?" I asked as Rose let out a laugh.
"You got it, mate!"
I looked beside me to see the Doctor with a grin perpetually plastered to his face as he grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers.
"You know what?" Rose starts, "That was my first trip," She said with a smile, reminiscing fondly.
"We had chips!" The Doctor added
"That's odd…" I mumbled quietly.
"What's odd?" The Doctor asked, catching my mutterings.
"It's just that," I paused, "What you and Rose have been saying has been straying from the dialogue of the show." My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
He smiled at me, "Well, I think you'll come to find quite a few differences from your show." He said as he ran his thumb across my hand which to my surprise, was being held by his.
After the Doctor finished with his dramatics, I expected him to carry on rambling. Much to my dismay, he did not continue right away as expected but stared at me for a moment that felt like a lifetime.
It seemed as if he was searching through my very soul with those huge, doe eyes that had been aged by living through an amount of death and destruction that no man should ever have to see.
What is he thinking? I thought silently to myself. That's when I noticed him spare a brief glance at my lips then back to my eyes. I didn't know what to think.
Why was he holding my hand? Why did he lie down next to me instead of Rose? I know he loves her already and it is shown in the previous and next episodes. Why has he been staring at me like that for so long? I was baffled and my face was a nice shade of red from being in such close proximity of the Doctor and his intense staring.
Finally, I heard Rose clear her throat, "What were you saying, Doctor?" He snapped his head and attention back to the city immediately. "So, anyway," He began, clearing his throat.
"Planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as Earth burns up… Oh yeah, they get all nostalgic… but find this place!"
He finally took a breath and sat up to get a better view of the vast city that stood before us, just waiting to be explored. "Same size as the Earth," He continued, "Same air, same orbit, lovely! Call goes out, the humans move in!"
"What's the city called?" Rose asked.
"New New York." The Doctor responds casually.
"Oh, come on," Rose said with a skeptical glance aimed at him. A grin soon came to my face, knowing what was to follow.
"It is! It's the city of New New York," He said defensively.
"That's not the full name…" I said to the Doctor in a singsong voice as Rose waited for him to elaborate.
"Strictly speaking," He cleared his throat, "It's the fifteenth since the original. So," Here it comes, I giggled, waiting for him to continue, "That makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York."
The Doctor noticed my giggling and looked at me with a bemused expression, "What are you laughing at?"
I sighed, "So many 'New's'."
"New new Doctor." He added. Rose chuckled and I smiled softly at him.
After a few minutes, Rose came to her feet, the Doctor and I following in suit.
"Can we go visit New New York?" She asked.
"So good they named it twice?" Rose and I say in synchronization and laugh.
"I swear, you two are doing that more and more often." The Doctor mumbled with an amused shake of his head.
"Well, I thought we might go there first." He said as he nodded towards a large building with a green symbol on its side.
"Why? What is it?" Rose inquired.
"A hospital," I responded. The Doctor nodded and began to elaborate on my statement.
"Green moon on the side, that's the universal symbol for hospitals."
"I got this." He added, pulling out his psychic paper. "A message on the psychic paper." He states, showing Rose and I the message. Ward 26… Please come, the message read. Jack, I remember, smiling.
"Someone wants to see me," He stated.
"And I thought we were just sight-seeing," Rose pouted.
"Come on, then! Let's go and buy some grapes!" Rose said cheerfully.
"Not quite," I mumbled, looking warily at the hospital, for I knew what evil was lurking within.
Edited as of November 2017
