The Girl in the Fireplace
A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews :) I'm going to attempt the insane, posting an episode a day! Wow. I've been writing ahead though, just started Series 4, so hopefully I can continue that. You may find some scenes missing, I'm basing this story on the fact that the show has been watched and we all know what is going on behind the scenes. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
~8~
The mystery tour the Doctor had selected for their very first trip with Mickey landed them smack in the middle of a run down spaceship. It was a dark and very disused room they stepped into as soon as the TARDIS had materialized. Obviously the ship was on its last legs.
"It's a spaceship!" Mickey exclaimed, looking around excitedly, "Brilliant, I got a spaceship on my first go!"
"Looks kind of abandoned..." Rose remarked, a bit surprised, "Anyone on board?"
"Nah, nothing here," the Doctor said, "Well! Nothing dangerous. Well! Not that dangerous…" the Professor laughed at his antics and he shot her a smile before pausing in thought, "You know what, I'll just have a quick scan...in case there's anything dangerous."
Rose smirked at that, watching as he walked over to a control panel in the center of the room and started tapping some buttons, "So, what's the date? How far we gone?"
He glanced over at the small group, "Professor, you want to take that one? You were always better at that than me."
The girl in question just blinked and slowly shook her head, "No thanks."
The Doctor stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her, frowning, "Why?"
"'Cos I don't know," she answered, looking around, avoiding his gaze.
"Come on," he grinned, "You don't recognize this type spaceship? Those star clusters outside?"
She only shrugged, ignoring Rose's scoff, and wrapped her thin coat around her more, as though hugging herself. He frowned at that, eyeing her in concern. She had been rather quiet and withdrawn since they'd found her, making herself scarce. That was not something he was used to from her. She was always so ready to get out there and look around, to learn and explore…
But he had to remind himself, this was a new version of her, she would be different. It seemed even her clothing reflected her new persona. As soon as the TARDIS had gone into the Vortex he'd led her to the wardrobe to pick an outfit to wear for their trips. She'd stepped out not even a half hour later, her hair hanging freely with a single grey clip pulling it back on one side of her face, wearing a simple white tank top, black pants, and a long grey waterfall cardigan. He'd noticed whenever she felt uncomfortable she would wrap the cardigan around her.
She was doing it now.
"We're about 3,000 years into your future, give or take," the Doctor answered, his gaze still on the Professor for a moment before he turned and pulled a switch, turning the lights on. The roof slowly started to open into a window, displaying the stars outside, "51st century. Diagmar Cluster, you're a long way from home, Mickey! Two-and-a-half galaxies!"
The Professors smiled softly, but didn't seem shocked by the information. He frowned at that, realizing she knew! Or, at least she had some sort of inkling…but why didn't she say something?
Mickey walked over to a porthole and gazed out in awe. Rose walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder, smiling at him. The Professor looked over at the Doctor who quickly turned and began to rummage through the control panel, hoping she hadn't seen him looking at her. He started picking up bits and pieces of the technology scattered around, looking more and more unimpressed by it. When he glanced up at the Professor out of the corner of his eye, she had turned to look at the stars.
"Mickey Smith, meet the Universe," Rose laughed, "See anything you like?"
"It's so realistic!" he shouted, so amazed by the view.
"Dear me, had some cowboys in here!" the Doctor said, chucking a piece of tech down, "Got a ton of repair work going on," he looked over, seeing a screen with a diagram of the spaceship on it. He paused, leaning over to look while Rose, Mickey, and the Professor joined him, "Now that's odd, look at that," he said with growing curiosity, he turned to his left where the Professor had come to stand, pointing out a few things, "All the warp engines are going...full capacity! There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the Universe..." he looked at her expectantly, but she just looked up at him, blank, "And we're not moving," he added, but still nothing, he sighed and turned back to the screen, "So where's all that power going?"
"Where'd all the crew go?" Rose looked around.
The Doctor leaned forward and tweaked some knobs on the control panel, "Good question, no life readings on board."
"Well, we're in deep space, they didn't just nip out for a quick fag," Rose remarked sarcastically.
"Nope, checked all the smoking pods," the Doctor answered, not seeming to have noticed her quip. He sighed and turned around, all four of them just gazing around at the room when the Doctor sniffed, "Can you smell that?"
"Yeah, someone's cooking," Rose nodded, smelling.
"Sunday roast, definitely!" Mickey grinned, inhaling deeply.
The Professor just wrinkled her nose at the smell, it was not a good smell at all.
The Doctor pressed something else on the panel and a door opened behind them. They turned and walked through seeing part of a wall and floor with 18th century décor set around a lit fireplace in the middle of the metal wall.
"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship," the Doctor commented. He and the Professor stepped forward, "18th century! French! Nice mantel," he looked over at the Professor who had reached out her hand as though to touch it but pulled back at the last second. He turned as she moved to look at him and pulled out his sonic, pointing it at the fireplace, "Not a hologram," he bent down and examined it closely while the Professor stood a step behind, watching. Mickey and Rose turned to look around at the rest of the room, "Not even a reproduction, this actually is an 18th century French fireplace. Double-sided, there's another room through there."
Rose stopped before another porthole on the same wall as the fireplace and looked through, only seeing space outside, "There can't be, that's the outer hull of the ship, look."
The Doctor crouched down, looking through the fire and into another room where there was a young girl with long blonde hair dressed in a nightgown looking back at him.
"Hello!" the Doctor greeted, grinning.
"Hello..." the girl said hesitantly.
Hearing another person responding, the Professor knelt down beside the Doctor. He gave her a little grin before turning back to the girl, "What's your name?"
"Reinette."
"Reinette, that's a lovely name. Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?"
Reinette blinked, surprised at the question and now slightly suspicious, "In my bedroom."
"And where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette?"
"Paris, of course!" she laughed.
"Paris, right!"
"Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace?"
"Oh, it's just a routine...fire check. Can you tell me what year it is?"
"Of course I can! 1727."
"Right, lovely! One of my favorites...August is rubbish though. Stay indoors. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night night!"
"Goodnight Monsieur," she bid him farewell.
He stood up, holding out a hand for the Professor, helping her up with a thoughtful expression.
"You said this was the 51st century," Mickey accused lightly, though a bit confused.
"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the Universe," he countered, "I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink."
"What's that?"
"He has no idea," the Professor answered for him, "He made it up," she nudged him with her elbow, "Didn't wanna say 'magic door.'"
The Doctor smiled at that.
"And on the other side of the 'magic door' is France in 1727?" Rose shook her head.
The Doctor nodded and looked back at the fireplace before walking across the room. He took off his coat and tossed it back at the Professor who just laughed and draped it over her arm.
"Well, she was speaking French," the Doctor stated, "Right period French, too."
"She was speaking English, I heard her!" Mickey exclaimed.
Rose draped an arm around Mickey's neck as the Doctor walked back to the fireplace, "That's the TARDIS, translates for ya."
"Even French?"
"Yep."
The Doctor kneed the side of the fireplace and the wall immediately began to rotate. The Professor jumped back to avoid it as the Doctor grinned, "Gotcha!"
"Doctor!" Rose shouted, rushing forward, but she was too late.
The Doctor turned around to see he was now standing in a dark and shadowy bedroom where Reinette was sleeping on her bed. He looked around, hearing the prominent ticking of the clock before walking over to the window and looking out at the skyline of Paris in the winter, snow gently falling. There was a neigh of a horse outside, waking Reinette. She sat up quickly, the creaking of the bed drawing the Doctor's attention who turned to see her staring at him.
"It's okay!" he said quickly, holding up his hands, "Don't scream! It's me, it's the fireplace man. Look," he walked over to her and lit a candle by her bed with his sonic, it did little to relieve her as she still looked startled, "We were talking, just a moment ago. I was in your fireplace."
"Monsieur, that was weeks ago," she told him, "That was months!"
The Doctor blinked, surprised, "Really? Oh," he walked back over to the fireplace, knocking on it as he listened to the sound it made, "Must be a loose connection. Need to get a man in."
"Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
The Doctor turned to reply when something caught his eye. The clock on the mantel was broken, the glass shattered, not moving…but the noise…
His mouth fell open a bit as his eyes widened with fear, "Okay, that's scary..."
"You're scared of a broken clock?" Reinette asked skeptically.
"Just a bit scared, yeah. Just a little tiny bit. 'Cos you see, if this clock's broken, and it's the only clock in the room..." he paused, turning to look at Reinette, the ticking growing louder, "Then what's that?" Reinette looked around, now noticing the ticking noise, clearly scared once more. The Doctor didn't move from his spot as he spoke to her again, quietly, slowly, "'Cos you see that's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance. Too big. Six feet, I'd say. Size of a man."
"What is it?"
He moved over to the curtains, checking behind them but found nothing. He quickly looked around, his thoughts racing, speaking just as fast, "Now, let's think. If you were a thing that ticks and you were hiding in someone's bedroom, first thing you do: break the clock. No one notices the sound of one clock ticking, but two? You might start to wonder if you're really alone," he walked over to her bed and crouched down, pulling out his sonic, "Stay on the bed. Right in the middle. Don't put your hands or feet over the edge."
He peered underneath turning on the sonic to scan when something smacked him, sending him flying backwards, the screwdriver nearly flying out of his hands. Reinette gasped while the Doctor scrambled back to the bed. He looked underneath it to see a pair of feet of something standing there, wearing the typical aristocratic dress of the period and country. The Doctor slowly resumed crouching, looking up at Reinette with wide eyes.
"Reinette..." he whispered, "Don't look round," he looked past her to see a man wearing a rather disturbing clown-like mask in French clothing leering down at Reinette who looked terrified, "You stay exactly where you are."
He stood up and looked straight at the figure. He glanced at Reinette, and then the figure, and Reinette once more, feeling very uncomfortable with what he was reading from the figure.
"Hold still, let me look..." he bent down and grasped Reinette's head between his hands, staring intently into her eyes, feeling more disturbed as he looked back at the figure in shock, "You've been scanning her brain!" he paused and looked back at Reinette once more before standing up straight again, "What, you've crossed two galaxies and thousands of years just to scan a child's brain?" he asked the figure, horrified, "What could there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the Universe?"
"I don't understand...it wants me?" she asked the Doctor before looking back at the figure, "You want me?"
The figure's head twitched to one side as it spoke in a distinct mechanical tone, "Not yet. You are incomplete."
"'Incomplete?'" the Doctor frowned, "What's that mean, 'incomplete?'"
The figure didn't answer, just stared at Reinette. The Doctor's face set in a firm expression as he spoke in a commanding and irritated voice, pointing the sonic threateningly at the droid, "You can answer her, you can answer me. What do you mean, 'incomplete?'"
The droid didn't answer, instead, it walked around the bed in a jerky motion to face the Doctor. It extended its arm and a menacing looking blade slid out near the Doctor's face. He could only just tilt his head away.
"Monsieur, be careful!" Reinette cried.
"Just a nightmare, Reinette, don't worry about it," he reassured her, "Everyone has nightmares," he started to back away, the droid pursuing him, swiping at him as he jumped back, till they reached the fireplace, "Even monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, monster?" the droid slashed at him again. He jumped aside just in time for the droid to hit the mantel, getting his blade stuck.
"What do monsters have nightmares about?" Reinette asked.
The Doctor quickly jerked the fireplace, seeing the droid struggling, and shouted, "Me, ha!"
Reinette smiled as the droid and the Doctor disappeared from her view, the fireplace spinning around.
"Doctor!" Rose shouted as the fireplace finished turning.
"Move!" the Professor called.
The Doctor spun around, jumping to the side as the Professor sprayed the droid with ice from a gun-like object in her hands. The droid convulsed in one last vain attempt to free itself before freezing completely.
"Nice job," the Doctor reached out and pulled the Professor into his arms, hugging her, spinning her around before setting her down, "Great timing!"
"Just like old times eh?" she asked with a little laugh.
"Excellent, ice gun!" Mickey shouted, rushing over to look at the gun in question.
The Professor handed the gun to Mickey to look at, "Fire extinguisher."
Rose rolled her eyes at the three of them and looked back over at the droid, "Where did that thing come from?"
"Here," the Doctor said.
"So why is it dressed like that?" Mickey asked.
"Field trip to France, some kind of basic camouflage protocol, nice needlework!" the Doctor commented, looking at the droid as he walked over to it, squinting, "Shame about the face," he pulled off the wig to reveal it's actual head, an ornate clockwork mechanism covered with a clear plastic egg. He started to grin, very excited, looking at the device in admiration, "Oh, you are beautiful!"
Mickey and Rose edged closer in curiosity while the Professor hung back. The Doctor pulled on his glasses and examined it more closely.
"No, really, you are, you're gorgeous!" he glanced at the Professor and tried to nod her over, "Professor, look at that! Space age clockwork, I love it! I've got chills! Have you?" he looked over to see she had taken a few steps closer but was nowhere near close enough to examine it properly. His grin faltered just a bit before he turned back to the droid, "Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart, and, by the way, count those, it would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you," he looked at the droid wistfully.
"But that won't stop you," the Professor said with a bit of humor in her voice.
"No, it will not," the Doctor agreed before lifting the sonic at it just as the droid creaked back to life. A moment later it teleported away. Rose and Mickey blinked and looked around, trying to see where it went. The Doctor just frowned, putting his screwdriver back and walked swiftly over to the fireplace, ready to go back to the other side, "Short range teleport, can't have got far. Could still be on board…"
"What is it?" Rose asked.
The Doctor pointed at Rose and Mickey, "Don't go looking for it!" and then to the Professor, "Don't let them go looking for it."
"Where're you going?"
"Back in a sec," he grinned, popping the fireplace up to return to Reinette's side. Rose looked over at the fire extinguisher in Mickey's hands.
Mickey looked at her and down at the gun and back, realizing what she was thinking, "He said not to look for it..."
"Yeah, he did," she replied, sounding all serious. She looked at Mickey a moment before smiling and grabbing another fire extinguisher from the wall.
"I really don't think we should go," the Professor said quietly as Rose checked the gun, "You don't know what's out there or what they're capable of."
"Then we'll find out won't we," Rose remarked tensely.
"It's just…we need to be careful. The crew is gone and safe betting is that they were taken out by those droids. There's got to be more of them and we don't know how many. We should really stay here, stay safe…"
"I got a question for ya," Rose cut in, "How did the Doctor ever put up with a coward like you?"
The Professor winced, stepping back as though she'd been slapped. Rose just turned and walked out of the room, heading down a hallway without a backwards glance. The Professor looked down at the floor as Mickey shuffled uncomfortably where he was.
"I didn't mean it as hiding," she said quietly, "I just…if those droids took out a crew, two humans don't stand a chance, even with those guns," she looked up at him, "I just don't want anything to happen to the both of you…"
"We'll be fine," Mickey smiled, trying to reassure her.
"I just…" she swallowed hard, "I've lost my entire planet, my friends, my family, all of my people…I don't want to lose you as well, you or Rose."
Mickey nodded slowly, understanding. She'd just come from a war where she was captured by aliens who had tortured her while her planet burned. He could understand losing everything and not wanting to lose what little you had left. Maybe that was why he was so attached to Rose. After his Gran had died, the only person he still had left was Rose…and then the Doctor came along…
He gestured to the door and the Professor let out a breath before walking through it. They could see Rose down the corridor waiting for them at the end, looking more than a bit irritated at having to wait for them.
"She doesn't mean it you know," he said quietly as they walked towards Rose, "I don't think she doesn't like you, I think she's just threatened."
"Threatened?" she frowned, not having thought of that. She really did think that Rose didn't like her.
"Yeah, it's like…" he trailed, trying to come up with the words to describe it, "Like you know all this stuff about the Doctor, his family, his customs, that she doesn't. Things she'll probably never know. You've got things up on her."
"I suppose it's possible…"
"It's reality," he laughed, "Trust me I know," she looked at him curiously, "I felt threatened when the Doctor swung around…still do," he added softly.
She smiled at him and nudged him with her arm, a gesture he returned, earning a smile from both of them.
~8~
As Rose, Mickey, and the Professor wandered around the spaceship the Professor couldn't keep the smile off her face. Mickey looked furtively down a corridor, holding one of the fire extinguishers before doing an Indiana Jones like move, dropping and rolling to check their safety. He turned back to them and winked earning a laugh from the Professor. He had been doing moves like that during their examination of the ship, cracking jokes as well. And while she didn't necessarily understand most of them, his intentions were noble, trying to cheer her up and take the sting out of what Rose had said before.
He moved along a few feet before stopping at a security camera that moved towards him and blinked, "Are you looking at me?" he asked it. It just moved closer to his face suddenly and he jumped back with a squeak of alarm.
"You ok Mickey?" the Professor called, walking over to him with Rose, a torch in her hand.
"Look at this," he said, motioning to the camera where they could now see an eye looking at them, a human eye, "That's an eye in there. That's a real eye."
As the eye retreated back into the wall they could hear a heart beating close by. Rose turned and bent down to a small circular cover in a bulkhead.
"I wouldn't touch it," the Professor called as Rose reached out to it, "It'll be hot," she added when Rose looked up at her.
Rose just rolled her eyes at the woman and reached out to pull the cover away, only to snap her hand back as it scalded her.
"Here," the Professor held out a scrap piece of cloth, a rag from one of the crew to the woman. Rose snatched it and wrapped it around her hand before trying to pull the cover off again, managing to do it this time.
They all grimaced seeing a human heart with wires and pipes attached to it beyond.
"What is that?" Mickey frowned, "What's that in the middle there? It's like it's wired in."
"That's a heart, Mickey..." Rose said, disgusted, "That's a human heart."
~8~
They walked down a corridor, their guns at the ready while the Professor shown a light for them.
"Maybe it wasn't a real heart," Mickey commented.
"Course it was a real heart," Rose remarked.
"Is this like normal for you? Is this an average day?"
"Life with the Doctor, Mickey, no more average days," Rose shrugged as they came to stop by a window with a view of a luxurious 18th century room.
"It's France again. We can see France."
"I think we're looking through a mirror."
They watched as the room's doors opened and a rather fancy man walked in with two servants, "Blimey, look at this guy," Mickey muttered, "Who does he think he is?"
"Care to take that one Doctor?" the Professor mimicked as the Doctor appeared behind them.
Rose and Mickey spun around, not having seen or heard him approach.
"King of France," he remarked with a grin at her.
"Oh, here's trouble," Rose smiled at him, "What you been up to?"
"Oh, this and that," he shrugged as they all turned back to watch the king in the mirror, "Became the imaginary friend of a future French aristocrat...picked a fight with a clockwork man..." a white horse neighed behind him, "Oh, and I met a horse."
The Professor laughed as the horse trotted over to them, "Only you," she shook her head at him.
"What's a horse doing on a spaceship?" Mickey frowned, confused.
"Mickey, what's pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship?" the Doctor retorted, "Get a little perspective."
"I think your question's better," the Professor told Mickey.
The Doctor turned to her stunned, "It is?"
"This is you we're talking about Doctor, and knowing you…you would find pre-Revolutionary France on a spaceship. The horse on the other hand…"
"Ha!" Mickey shouted in victory, slinging his arm over the Professor's shoulder, "Gotcha!"
The Doctor just shook his head with a smile and turned back to the window, it seemed like the Professor was starting to feel better and that was all he could ask for.
"See these?" he pointed at the window, "They're all over the place. On every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history..." he placed a finger on the glass as Reinette entered the room, " window...deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the 51st century stalking a woman from the eighteenth. Why?"
"Who is she?" Rose asked.
"Professor?" he looked at her, hopeful, but she just looked down.
Ok, not quite better.
"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, known to her friends as Reinette," he answered, "One of the most accomplished women who ever lived."
"So has she got plans of being the Queen, then?" Rose shook her head, trying to follow along.
"No, he's already got a Queen. She's got plans of being his mistress."
"Oh, I get it," Rose nodded and glanced at Mickey, "Camilla."
She and Mickey started to laugh.
"I think this is the night they met," the Doctor continued as the king left the room, "The night of the Yew Tree ball. In no time at flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace...even her own title, Madame de Pompadour."
Reinette turned to the window they were looking through, the mirror, and preened herself, unknowing that they were watching.
"Queen must have loved her..." Rose scoffed.
"Oh, she did," the Doctor nodded, not catching the quip, "They get on very well."
"The King's wife and the King's girlfriend?" Mickey asked, incredulous.
"France. It's a different planet."
"Shhh," the Professor cut in as a soft ticking noise sounded. They turned back to the mirror as the Doctor spotted that the clock on the mantle was broken.
Reinette too seemed to hear the ticking and turned around, eyes wide with fear, "How long have you been standing there?" she called to a figure in the corner of the room, standing facing the wall, "Show yourself!"
The figure turned suddenly and revealed itself to be one of the clock work droids. A moment later it began advancing towards her.
The Doctor grabbed the fire extinguisher from Mickey and swung the mirror open so he could step back into Reinette's world with Rose, Mickey, and the Professor following.
"Hello, Reinette!" he called, rushing past her, "Hasn't time flown?"
"Fireplace man!" she gasped.
He quickly sprayed the droid with the fire extinguisher till it was immobile before tossing it back to Mickey. The droid started to click and whirr as it tried in vain to move.
"What's it doing?" Mickey asked.
"Switching back on," the Doctor said, "Melting the ice."
"And then what?"
"Then it kills everyone in the room," the Doctor said, blinking as he realized exactly who else was in the room. The droid's arm shot out towards the Doctor's throat and he found himself being pulled back by his coat by the Professor. He gave her a nod of thanks before backing up with the rest of them, "Focuses the mind, doesn't it?" he turned to the droid, "Who are you? Identify yourself."
The droid was silent.
"Order it to answer me," he said quietly to Reinette.
"Why should it listen to me?" Reinette shook her head, confused.
"I don't know. It did when you were a child. Let's see if you've still got it."
Reinette straightened herself and turned to the droid, "Answer his question. Answer any and all questions put to you."
The droid lowered its arm, "I am Repair Droid Seven."
The Doctor nodded, "So what happened to the ship, then? There was a lot of damage."
"Ion storm, eighty two percent systems failure."
"That ship hasn't moved in over a year. What's taken you so long?"
"We did not have the parts."
Mickey laughed at that, "Always comes down to that, doesn't it? The parts."
"What's happened to the crew, where are they?" the Doctor asked.
"We did not have the parts," the droid repeated.
"There should have been over fifty people on your ship," the Doctor said, growing aggravated, "Where did they go?"
"We did not have the parts."
"Fifty people don't just disappear! Where…"
"They're…" the Professor began, before going quiet. The Doctor looked at her, she sighed and looked at him meaningfully, "They didn't have the parts."
The Doctor blinked, before his eyes widened, realization dawning on him, "Oh. You didn't have the parts…so you used the crew."
"The crew?" Mickey frowned.
"We found a camera with an eye in it..." Rose recalled, "And there was a heart...wired in to machinery."
"It was just what it was programmed to," the Doctor sighed, "Repairing the ship any way it can, with whatever it could find. No one told it the crew weren't on the menu. What did you say the flight deck smelt of?"
"Someone cooking..."
"Flesh plus heat. Barbeque," he shook his head and turned back to the droid, "But what are you doing here? You've opened up time windows, that takes colossal energy. Why come here, you could have gone to your repair yard. Instead you come to eighteenth century France? Why?"
"One more part is required," it said, its head jerking towards Reinette as they all turned to look at her as well.
"Then why haven't you taken it?"
"She is incomplete."
"What...so, that's the plan then? Just keep opening up more and more time windows, scanning her brain, checking to see if she's 'done yet?'"
"Why her?" Rose asked suddenly, "You've got all of history to choose from, why specifically her?"
"We are the same," the droid replied.
"We are not the same, we are in no sense the same!" Reinette stepped up.
"We are the same."
"Get out of here!" she shouted, getting angry, "Get out of here this instant!"
"Reinette, no!" the Doctor called, but he droid activated its teleport and disappeared, "It's back on the ship," he breathed, turning to Rose and Mickey, "Professor, you're with me. Rose, take Mickey and Arthur, go after it. Follow it, don't approach it, just watch what it does."
"Arthur?" Rose asked as she and Mickey turned back to the mirror.
"Good name for a horse."
"No, you're not keeping the horse!" Rose stated, exasperated.
"I let you keep Mickey!" he countered, "Now go, go, go!"
Mickey and Rose turned and ran back through the mirror portal, the Doctor closing it behind them before turning back to the two women, "Go keep a look out," he said to the Professor, who nodded and quickly walked to the end of the room, peering through a few doors.
"Reinette, you're going to have to trust me," he continued, turning to the French woman, "I need to find out what they're looking for, there's only one way I can do that. Won't hurt a bit."
Reinette nodded and he placed his fingers on her temples, closing his eyes as she did the same.
"Fireplace man..." Reinette gasped a moment later, "You are inside my mind!"
"Oh dear, Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here."
"You are in my memories. You walk among them."
"If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door and close it. I won't look. Ooh…actually...there's a door just there."
Reinette opened her eyes and grinned at him slyly.
"You might want to clo…ooh," he muttered, "Actually, several."
"To walk among the memories of another living soul...do you ever get used to this?"
"I don't make a habit of it."
"How can you resist?"
He frowned, "What age are you?"
"So impertinent a question so early in the conversation. How promising."
"No, not my question, theirs. You're 23 and for some reason, that means you're not old enough…" Reinette flinched, "Sorry, you might find old memories reawakening. Side effect."
"Oh, such a lonely childhood..." she breathed.
"It'll pass. Stay with me."
"Oh, Doctor," she continued, shaking her head, "So lonely. So very, very alone…"
"What do you mean, alone? You've never been alone in your life…" his eyes snapped open, "When did you start calling me 'Doctor?'"
"Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now. But…" she frowned in concentration, "You were never truly alone…she was always there. You're worried…concerned for your friend," she opened her eyes, smiling softly at him, "But it runs much deeper than friendship doesn't it?"
"How did you do that?" he shook his head, stepping away from her.
"A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction..." she reasoned as he stared at her, vulnerable, "Oh, Doctor," she breathed softly, stepping towards him, "Does she know?"
When the Doctor stared at her she glanced down the hall to where the Professor was still standing, keeping watch.
"My Doctor. Dance with me."
"I can't."
"Dance with me."
"This is the night you dance with the King."
"Then first, I shall make him jealous," she commented, before grinning knowingly, "Unless there is another you wish to dance with more?"
"I can't," he shook his head, the double meaning not lost on her.
"The Doctor and the Professor…" she breathed sadly, "Doctor who? Professor of what?" she looked at him a few more moments, understanding in her eyes, "It's more than just a secret, isn't it?"
"What did you see?"
"That there comes a time, Time Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance. And he must not keep a Lady waiting."
The double meaning was not lost on him either.
She smiled and took his hand leading him away, towards the door the Professor was standing by.
~8~
Rose's eyes fluttered open as a loud ticking reached her. She looked around to see one of the clockwork droids staring down at her. She remembered being knocked out by them, she and Mickey.
"What's going on?" she struggled, trying to get free, "Doctor?"
She looked down and saw she had been manacled on some sort of operating table, tilted at a sharp angle. She could see Mickey manacled to another on the other side of the room, both of them surrounded by the droids.
"Rose?" Mickey called, scared, "They're gonna chop us up. Just like the crew, they're gonna chop us up and stick us all over their stupid spaceship. And where's the Doctor? Where's the precious Doctor now? He and the Professor have been gone for flipping hours, that's where he is!"
"You are compatible," a droid said, stepping up to Rose.
"Well..." she began, trying to buy them time, "You...you might wanna think about that. You really, really might because...me and Mickey...we didn't come here alone, oh no! And trust me, you wouldn't wanna mess with our designated driver…"
"And his friend!" Mickey added as the droid thrust a sharp and lethal looking saw in front of Rose's face.
Rose leaned back, looking at the blade apprehensively, "Ever heard of the Daleks? Remember them? They had a name for our friend. They had myths about him, and a name. They called him the..."
There was a loud banging in the distance as they all looked over in that direction only to hear someone, the Doctor, singing drunkenly.
"I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night..."
"They called him the…" Rose glanced in the direction, distracted, "They called him the…the…"
The Doctor suddenly staggered into the room wearing a pair of sunglasses with his tie tied around his head, dancing with the Professor.
"And still have begged for moooore..." he sang to her as they danced their way over to the duo strapped down, albeit clumsily due to the Doctor. From what Mickey could see, the Professor looked rather sober and was trying to support the Doctor as much as she could, "I could've spread my wings and done a thou…" he trailed off, finally seeming to notice them, "Have you metthe French?" Mickey looked bemused at his state as the Professor straightened him up, though the man was leaning heavily on her, "My GOD, they know how to party."
"Oh, look at what the cat dragged in," Rose remarked sarcastically, "The Oncoming Storm."
The Doctor grimaced, "Oh, you sound just like your mother."
"What've you been doing? Where've you been?"
"Well...among other things…I think I just invented the banana daiquiri a few centuries early."
"Only you," the Professor breathed as Rose laid back on the board clearly exasperated.
"Do you know, they've never even seen a banana before!" the Doctor looked at the Professor before turning to lean over Rose, nearly falling onto her had the Professor not grabbed his coat and pulled him back, "Always take a banana to a party, Rose. Bananas are GOOD."
"I still want to know why you carry one in your pocket," the Professor said, as he turned and spotted the droids.
"Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, brilliant!" he cheered, absolutely delighted, "It's you! You're my favorite, you are, you are the best! Do you know why? 'Cos you're so THICK. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania," he started to walk back before throwing, "And so's your dad," over his shoulder. He strolled away back to the Professor's side, draping an arm around her shoulder, "Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for?" he sniggered, "Her milometer. They wanna know how old she is. Know why?"
"'Cos the ship is 37 years old," the Professor replied.
"'Cos this ship is thir…" he trailed, frowning as he looked at her, he could feel her shaking beside him, "Right…" he nodded, showing his concern so openly would ruin his plans, so he continued as though he hadn't noticed, "And they think that when Reinette is 37, when she's 'complete,' then her brain will be compatible. So, that's what you're missing, isn't it?" he turned to stare at the droids mockingly, "Hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason, God knows what, only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do."
"The brain is compatible," the droid replied.
"Compatible?" the Doctor frowned, stepping forward to the droid once more, "If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine," he pulled the droid's mask off and poured the liquid from the glass he was holding into the clockwork inside its head. He then put the mask back on and patted its head as it wound down. Rose leaned back against the board in relief.
"Multigrain anti-oil," he smiled, now sober, revealing his ruse, "If it moves, it doesn't."
"Doctor," the Professor called.
He looked over to see her watching the droids around the room start to advance. He just leaned over and pulled a nearby lever, deactivating them for the time being.
"Right, you two, that's enough lying about..." he quickly released Rose and Mickey with his sonic. They slid down the table and onto the floor, "Time we got the rest of the ship turned off."
"Are those things safe?" Mickey asked, looking at the droids.
The Professor walked over to the Doctor, pulling his tie down to fix it as he lifted his sunglasses up, "Yep," he answered, "Safe. Safe and thick. Way I like them. Okay, all the time windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down," he felt his pockets, "Zeus plugs…" he mumbled before looking at the Professor, "Where are my Zeus plugs?"
"You were using them as castanets," she reminded him.
"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty-seven?" Rose asked, cutting in on the Doctor and Professor's little domestic moment.
The Professor quickly moved back from the Doctor half a step, enough for Rose to relax just a bit from their proximity.
"With the amount of damage to these circuits, they'll be lucky to hit the right century," the Doctor remarked, "Trial and error after that," he walked over to a computer and began fiddling with it, pushing buttons here and there, frowning, "The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close?"
"What's that?" Rose asked as something began to ping.
"I don't know...incoming message?"
"From who?" Mickey wondered.
"Report from the field...one of them must still be out there with Reinette! That's why I can't close the windows, there's an override!"
There was a whirring noise behind them as one of the droids sprang back to life. They spun around watching as the droid expelled the 'wine' that the Doctor had poured into it all over the Doctor's shoes.
"Well, that was a bit clever," the Professor commented.
The rest of the droids sprang to life, filling the room with ticking.
"Right..." the Doctor nodded, "Many things about this are not good," the ping sounded again, "Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting?"
"She is complete," one of the droids replied, "It begins."
And with that, they all teleported out.
"What's happening?" Rose asked.
"One of them must've found the right time window, and now it's time to send in the troops," the Doctor said gravely, "And this time they're bringing back her head."
~8~
Rose ran into the room from having warned Reinette to see the Doctor working frantically at a window, Mickey and the Professor standing by.
"You found it, then?" she asked him.
"They knew he was coming," the Professor answered for him so he could keep working undistracted, "They blocked it off."
Rose looked through the time window into the ballroom, "I don't get it. How come they got in there?"
"They teleported," the Doctor answered this time, "You saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short-range teleports will do the trick."
"Well, we'll go in the TARDIS!"
"We can't use the TARDIS," the Professor said.
"Oh and why not?" Rose shot her a small glare, part of her wondering if the girl actually had a reason or if she was just trying to shoot down her ideas.
"We're part of events now," the Doctor agreed, not looking up from his work.
"Well, can't we just smash through it?" Mickey asked.
"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other. We need a truck."
"Doctor…" the Professor began, looking back the way Rose came at something.
"We don't have a truck," Mickey stated.
"I know we don't have a truck!" the Doctor shouted.
"Doctor," the Professor tried again.
"Well, we've gotta try something!" Rose cried as well.
"No, smash the glass, smash the time window, they'd be no way back," the Doctor explained as Rose stared at him.
"Doctor!" the Professor shouted this time.
"What?" he jumped up and turned on her. She just nodded in the direction she was looking. He followed her gaze and saw Arthur standing there.
~8~
"Can everyone just calm down?" Reinette called to those in the ball room, "Please. Such a commotion. Such distressing noise. Kindly remember that is is Versailles. This is the Royal Court. And we are French," she calmly turned to the droids that had dragged her there as the room quieted, "I have made a decision. And my decision is no, I shall not be going with you today. I have seen your world, and I have no desire to set foot there again."
"We do not require your feet," one of the droids replied.
Two other droids stepped up beside her, pushing her to her knees, both pointing their blades at her neck. The main droid approached her slowly, his weapon aimed at her as well.
"You think I fear you," Reinette continued, looking up at the droid defiantly, "But I do not fear you, even now. You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed. And if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured…" she lowered her voice to a near whisper, "So will yours!"
There was a sound of a horse whinnying in the distance. The droids, Reinette, and the guests all turned to look around for the source of the noise, now accompanied by galloping hooves. A moment later a horse leapt through the glass of a large mirror on the wall, the Doctor riding on its back. The guests started to scream while Reinette's mouth dropped open at the sight. The Doctor winked at her as he passed by, the horse coming to a halt as he dropped down from it.
"Madame de Pompadour," he greeted, "You look younger every day."
Reinette could only smile at that.
"What the hell is going on?" the king demanded.
"Oh, this is my lover, the King of France," Reinette introduced.
"Yeah?" he nearly scoffed, eyeing the king, "Well, I'm the Lord of Time," he turned and approached the main droid, "And I'm here to fix the clock," he pulled off the mask of the droid revealing the clockwork underneath earning gasps from the crowd. The droid pointed its weapon at the Doctor, "Forget it. It's over. For you and for me," he glanced over at the broken mirror seeing only a brink wall behind it, "Talk about seven years bad luck. Try 3,000..."
The droid cocked its head to look at the mirror as well.
~8~
On the spaceship, Rose, Mickey, and the Professor stared at the shards of glass on the ground and then at the wall of the ship where the window had been.
"What happened?" Mickey asked, "Where did the time window go? How's he gonna get back?"
Rose slowly backed away from the wall, shaking her head, unable to answer or believe what had happened. Tears were in her eyes and, had she not been as devastated as she was, she would have glared at the Professor for even alerting the Doctor to the presence of Arthur, giving him the idea to use the horse to jump through the glass.
The Professor however, just looked at the wall, her head tilted to the side, thoughtful.
~8~
The Doctor watched as the droid repeatedly tried to use its teleport to no avail. It turned to the Doctor who just smirked, "The link with the ship is broken. No way back. You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that. I'm not winding you up."
A moment later the clockwork droid wound down, going dead, much like the others, all slumping forward, one even fell backwards, smashing its head over the floor. The guests started to whisper amongst themselves as the Doctor glanced over at Reinette.
"You alright?" he asked.
She nodded as he stepped towards her and held out a hand to help her up, "What's happened to them?"
The Doctor shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets, "They've stopped. They have no purpose now."
He glanced back over at the mirror, walking over to it slowly. He stared at the wall a moment before placing his hand on it.
~8~
"We can't fly the TARDIS without him," Mickey mumbled, "Can we?" he looked over at the Professor, "Can you?"
She shook her head slowly walking over to the wall, "He became a part of the timeline…"
"How's he gonna get back then?" Mickey asked, glancing at Rose who turned sadly to look at the stars.
The Professor raised her hand, hesitating slightly before taking a breath and placing it on the wall, closing her eyes.
A moment later a small smile appeared on her face.
~8~
The Doctor stood by a window in a bedroom of Versailles, holding a glass of real wine in his hands and looking up at the stars, the direction of the cluster the ship had been in…would be in…
Reinette came up behind him, holding her own glass of wine as she too followed his gaze to the stars, "You know all their names, don't you? I saw that in your mind. The name of every star," she laughed, "Of course the Professor helped you memorize them didn't she?"
He gave her a small grin, "What's in a name? Names are just titles. Titles don't tell you anything."
"Like 'The Doctor?' Or 'The Professor?'"
"Like, 'Madame de Pompadour,'" he quipped back, earning another laugh from her.
"I have often wished to see those stars a little closer. Just as you have, I think."
"From time to time."
"In saving me, you trapped yourself. Did you know that would happen?"
"Mm. Pretty much."
"Yet, still you came."
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" he smiled, "Catch me doing that again," his smile faded as he looked up at the stars.
Reinette was silent a moment before she spoke again, "You miss her terribly," he looked at her, shocked by her statement, but she just smiled in understanding, "You lost her once, you did not ever want to again, and now you feel you have," she paused, "Does she know?" he looked away, answering her question, "There were many doors between my world and yours. Can you not use one of the others?"
"When the mirror broke, the shock will have severed all the links with the ship. There'll be a few more broken mirrors and torn tapestries around here, I'm afraid. Wherever there was a time window. I'll…I'll, er...pay for any damage…" Reinette laughed as something dawned on him, "Um...oh, that's a thought, I'm gonna need money. I was always a bit vague about money. Where do you get money?"
"So, here you are. My lonely angel. Stuck on the slow path, with me."
"Yep. The slow path," he grinned, though one that did not reach his eyes, and held up his glass, "Here's to the slow path."
Reinette laughed and clinked her glass with his, sipping her wine, "It's a pity...I think I would've enjoyed the slow path."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere."
"Oh, aren't you?" she smiled, setting her wine down, "Take my hand," the Doctor did so and she led him out of the room, into another, her bedroom, where a very familiar fireplace was set in the wall, "It's not a copy. It's the original. I had it moved here and was exact in every detail."
"The fireplace..." he breathed, walking towards it slowly, "The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?"
"Many years ago. In the hope that a door once opened, may someday be opened again. One never quite knows when one needs one's Doctor," they shared a small smile as she looked back at the fireplace, "It appears undamaged, do you think it will still work?"
"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it. Which means it was offline when the mirror broke. That's what saved it. But..." he moved closer, examining it, "The link is basically physical, and it's still physically here."
Reinette watched, not saying a word as he worked, though there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.
He tapped the woodwork, "Which might just mean, if I'm lucky...if I'm very, very, very, very, very, very lucky..." he leaned closer, finding what he was looking for, "Aha!"
"What?"
"Loose connection!" he replied, holding his sonic at it, "Need to get a man in!" he banged the mantel piece and prepared for when it would turn, "Wish me luck!"
"No..."
His grin faded from his face as the fireplace turned, depositing him back in the ship. He quickly crouched down and called through the flames, "Madame de Pompadour!" she crouched down on the other side, "Still wanna see those stars?"
"More than anything!"
"Give me two minutes. Pack a bag!"
"Am I going somewhere?"
"Go to the window, pick a star, any star!" he ordered lightly before he dashed off to find Rose, Mickey, and the Professor while Reinette ran to her window.
~8~
Rose pulled the Doctor into a tight hug, "How long did you wait?" he asked her, laughing.
"Five-and-a-half hours!" she said, relieved.
"Right, always wait five-and-a-half hours," he added, pulling away. He turned, about to hug Mickey, when he changed his mind and shook his hand instead.
"How about you?" he spun around to the Professor, "Miss me?"
"No," she replied, nearly laughing as his face fell, "I knew you'd come back."
"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow.
"There was a loose connection. One of the windows was offline. Only a matter of time before you or Reinette found it."
He grinned, stepping forward and pulling her into a hug as well. She laughed, hugging him tightly despite the fact she hadn't been worried. She breathed in, just memorizing his scent, one that never seemed to change despite his regenerations, taking comfort in it. He squeezed her tighter, holding her a few seconds longer than necessary before pulling back with a gentle smile.
"Where've you been?" Rose demanded, feeling just a bit cross at their affectionate hug. She truly couldn't fault them for being relieved, but now she was starting to get peeved that the Professor hadn't told them the Doctor would be returning.
"Explain later," he spun around, "Into the TARDIS, be with you in a sec."
He rushed back to the fireplace as Mickey ran into the TARDIS with the Professor, Rose hesitated and watched as the Doctor knelt by the fireplace.
"Rose?" the Professor called gently.
Rose shook herself out of her thoughts and turned to enter the TARDIS as well.
"Reinette?" the Doctor called through the flames, "You there, Reinette?"
He stood and triggered the fireplace, revolving back to France, only to find himself back in the palace, now completely dark. He paused in wonder before stepping out of the room to try and find out what was going on.
"Reinette?" he called. But there was no one there save the king who was standing by the window, looking outside, "Oh. Hello."
"You just missed her," the king replied, gaze still outside, "She'll be in Paris by six."
"Ah."
The king turned to look at the Doctor, taking a few steps towards him, awestruck, "Good Lord...she was right. She said you never looked a day older…" the Doctor raised his eyebrows in question, "So many years since I saw you last, yet not a day of it on your face," he sighed and turned to a desk, puling open a drawer and taking out a letter, "She spoke of you many times."
The Doctor smile started to fade as he realized what was happening.
"Often wished you'd visit again, properly introduce your companions. You know how women are," he turned and held out the letter to the Doctor who took it and looked down at it. The king glanced out the window, hearing the thrash of whip and horses trotting, "There she goes," he breathed, watching as a hearse carried Reinette's coffin away from the palace in the rain, "Leaving Versailles for the last time. Only 43 when she died."
The Doctor slowly walked up behind the king to watch the procession, his face solemn with pain.
"Too young...too young. Illness took her in the end. She always did work too hard," his eyes filled with tears as he looked at the Doctor, "What does she say?"
Without saying a word or removing his gaze from the window the Doctor tucked the letter inside his jacket.
The king nodded, "Of course. Quite right."
After a few more moments the Doctor turned and walked away.
~8~
The Doctor walked into the TARDIS, closing the door wearily behind his back before making his way up to the console.
"Why her?" Rose asked from where she and Mickey were standing around the console, the Professor subtly setting the TARDIS up for flight, "Why did they think they could fix the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?"
"We'll probably never know," he sighed, "There was massive damage in the computer memory base. Probably got confused."
"The S.S. Madame de Pompadour," the Professor said quietly, not looking up from where she was working. The Doctor looked over at her in question, "That was the ship's name."
He nodded slowly, now it made sense, before moving to join her at the console, "The TARDIS can close down the time windows now the droids are gone," he reached out for a knob, "Should stop it causing any more trouble."
"Covered," the Professor said, looking up at him, a sad understanding in her eyes.
He smiled lightly at her, she always knew when things were wrong.
"Are you alright?" Rose called, seeing the sad look the two aliens had shared.
The Doctor looked over at her, "I'm always alright," he smiled briefly and turned to fiddle with some controls while Rose watched him.
Mickey eyed the interaction a moment longer before realizing the Doctor wanted to be alone. He looked at the Professor, nodding at her, both of them aware of this.
He turned and tugged on Rose's arm, "Come on, Rose. It's time you showed me around the rest of this place."
Rose hesitated, not wanting to leave the Doctor alone, especially when only the Professor was there to comfort him, but it seemed like she was about to leave as well so she let Mickey pull her along.
The Doctor looked up as they walked out when suddenly he felt a pair of arms wrap around him. He looked over to see the Professor.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to him, squeezing him once more before leaving him to his solitude.
He waited till she was out of the room before pulling out the letter and opening it.
My Dear Doctor.
The path has never seemed more slow, and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again. But I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head, the incredible people you know, and know that all things are possible. Hurry though, my love. My days grow shorter now, and I am so very weak. I live for the day I shall see you again, the day I shall meet those who live in your heart. I pray that you tell her, my love, for to have your love would be the greatest gift any woman could hope to receive.
God speed, my lonely angel.
The Doctor quietly closed the letter and tucked it away again. He looked up at the monitor to see an image of the fireplace there. The Professor had set everything up to disable the link, but was leaving the final step to him. He smiled at that, at the closure she was providing, and hit a key on the console, turning the monitor off, shutting down the link.
~8~
"Mind if I join you?" a voice said behind her. The Professor looked up from her spot, sitting on the edge of the door of the TARDIS, watching the stars, to see Mickey standing there.
"Not at all," she smiled, scooting over for him to join her.
They sat in silence for quite a while, both of them just looking out at the stars, "They should give you more credit," she said after a moment, "You really are a brilliant man Mickey."
He grinned at the compliment before shaking his head, "Nah, I'm just…along for the ride I guess."
She frowned, hearing the depression in his last words, "What's wrong?'
He shook his head for a few moments, "What am I doing here?" he asked out loud, though she could tell he was really talking to himself more than expecting a reply, "I mean, I wanted to come, don't get me wrong, but…" he laughed hollowly, "What did I think would happen? I'd join up, show Rose what she was missing by traveling with the Doctor?" he scoffed, "I'll never be as good as him."
The Professor was silent, letting him vent his frustrations. Quite a few minutes passed before she spoke again, "I understand how you feel," he looked at her, startled, "I mean, not exactly, but I can very much relate."
"Oh?" he asked, not nasty or disbelieving, but curious.
She nodded, a sad smile on her face, "The Doctor and I, when we were younger, on Gallifrey, we…we were very close. Closer than close."
"You and he were…"
"No. In the Academy, relationships of that sort were frowned upon and thought to be a distraction," she laughed a bit, "Back then, at first, I was, a bit of a stickler for the rules, no one could ever understand how the Doctor and I worked so well together because of that. Anyway, the Doctor and I were friends and that was all," Mickey nodded, understanding, watching as her expression turned more thoughtful as she recalled her childhood, "The Doctor was two years older than me so he graduated from the Academy before me, but he always came back to visit me whenever he could and we…we had so much fun together. But…he started doing these little things. He would send me Pika flowers, my favorites, whenever they were in bloom, just to be thoughtful. He'd hug me longer than he used to, whisk me away or 'kidnap' me, as he liked to call it, whenever my studies got to be too much. He would look at me sometimes…I'd catch him, with this intent look on his face," she smiled wistfully, "I thought it was his way of telling me that, perhaps, he cared for me as I did him."
"You loved him."
She nodded, "I was gonna tell him too. My mum organized this whole party to celebrate my graduation and invitation to become an Academic. He was there and I was gonna tell him…"
"What happened?" he asked quietly, he already knew it wouldn't be good, her smile was gone.
"He met my cousin, Mayra. And that was it."
"He picked your cousin over you?" he frowned, the Doctor didn't seem that cruel.
"He didn't have to pick. I didn't say anything to him about my feelings. He didn't know," she reached up and quickly wiped a tear from her eyes, "So you see, while I can't understand exactly how you feel about Rose and the Doctor, because…the Doctor was never mine to begin with...I can relate."
Mickey nodded, truly feeling for the girl. He scooted over to her and put his arm around her shoulder, letting her rest her head on his shoulder as they looked out at the stars, both taking comfort in their shared pain and loss.
A/N: Something is very wrong with the Professor. Wonder what it is?