Mitchell is about to come clean...
Confessions
"What is love? Love is when one person knows all of your secrets... your deepest, darkest, most dreadful secrets of which no one else in the world knows... and yet in the end, that one person does not think any less of you; even if the rest of the world does."
-Anon-
"Do you think this guy's for real?"
George turned the sink on whist he thought through Nina's whispered question.
Eventually he hazarded, "I don't know, he seems to know what he's talking about."
His girlfriend shook her head and sighed. "It just seems so convenient. Just when we need to know what's going on with this baby he turns up with all these answers…"
George switched off the sink and stared at the bubbles for a moment. "But he isn't interested in us is he? He's only interested in Mitchell."
He ran a soapy hand through his short hair distractedly. "What are we going to do Nina? He seems nice enough but those things he said to Mitchell… and what about our baby, we have absolutely no idea what's going to happen!"
Nina stopped him before he could continue in his panicky way. She took his hands in her smaller ones and spoke in her calmest nurse voice. "It's all going to be fine George. Everything's going to work itself out."
But even as he wrapped his arms around her she couldn't help but worry about what would happen once Mitchell returned.
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"You go first."
Mitchell nodded once, curtly, and then fished around in his pocket for the keys. Without hesitation he unlocked the door and strode into the house.
The moment he entered the bar area he felt four sets of eyes resting on him, whilst Martha's burned into his back.
They watched as he made his way over to the bar, then slumped in a bar stool, began to dispassionately list the instances of pain and horror he had caused over the past ten years.
The small group listened silently, and not even Annie tried to lighten the mood by offering tea.
She and George exchanged glances when the vampire reached events they recognised. His voice didn't shake as he recounted Laurens death, and the tragic half-life that followed it up, until her final end in the alley.
Annie covered her mouth as she remembered the look in Mitchell's eyes as the stake he wielded had sank into Lauren's body, as her ashes had floated into the breeze.
George sighed heavily at the recollection of Becca's death, at Mitchell's refusal to turn her. Unbidden the words from long ago sprang into his mind:
He had said to Annie, "I'd forgotten what they were like, the others. They're predators. Every inch of them is just hunger and fury. The energy it must take him every minute not to be like that."
Annie had replied, "Do you think he should have saved her?"
"I think he did."
Mitchell continued, only a tremble every now and again betraying his pent-up emotion. He spoke detachedly about the priests he had killed, saving his friends from Kemp.
Nina felt her eyes drawn to Martha. The girl was leaning against the doorway, eyes fixed on Mitchell. Her face was completely transparent, and Nina could see every emotion flickering across it. Herself, Nina felt sheer horror at the extent of Mitchell's crimes. How could she bring a child up in the same house as someone who had done such terrible things? How could George just accept it?
Eventually Mitchell finished, and turned, eyes flashing, to face the Doctor.
But before he could say another word Annie burst in, "But he's been trying to stop! Can't you see? Everything he did after he met George and me, he did to save us!"
The Doctor sighed, his ancient eyes full of sadness. "Everything?"
He stared at the vampire for a moment then repeated, "Everything?"
Mitchell stared back, moving not a muscle.
The Time Lord looked genuinely pained as he reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a newspaper. George blinked, a small part of his mind thinking, how did that fit in there?
Splashed over the front page was the article about the Box Tunnel 20.
For a heartbeat there was silence in the house. Then Nina spoke. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Are you saying Mitchell…"
But she didn't have time to finish her sentence before Mitchell had leaped up, fangs gleaming, eyes black and face locked in a vicious snarl. He picked the Doctor up, smashing the Time Lord against the wall.
"We had to do it, we had to! They killed us, blew us up! We couldn't defend ourselves, we were massacred!"
Annie didn't catch what happened next. The Doctor didn't seem to move, didn't make any violent gesture but the next moment Mitchell had backed away and the alien was standing, straightening his jacket.
The vampire continued in a broken voice, "It wasn't fair, we were so close… we weren't even feeding anymore. I was just so angry…"
Annie felt like the bottom had fallen out of her world. "You lied to us? All this time you were lying to us?"
All George could say was, "Those people, those poor people," repeated over and over.
Nina was silent, but her thoughts were dark and angry.
Martha couldn't look at the Doctor, but all she could think was, he was right. He's always right. But this time he hates himself for it.
The alien in question did a most unexpected thing at that point. Silently he took the shaking vampire in his arms, folding him up in a warm embrace. If any of the other occupants of the room had been close enough they would have heard him whisper, "I understand. We do not control what our lives throw at us. But remember this, there is a wolf-shaped bullet, and it's coming. It's coming for you."
Hope you're enjoying the story so far...will update soon!
This is the most complicated story I've attempted so far, so reviews are much appreciated to let me know whether it still makes sense!
It doesn't take long to review, but it does make me very happy :)
