Lady A: As promised, another chapter for all you lovely people. Don't worry, we will get to the Doctor soon enough. It will be the chapter after this one, okay? However, some things must be done first and thus the reason for this chapter. A big thank you to all those who faved, followed, and reviewed and of course, much love to my beloved Arya for keeping me going!
Brief Recap: Artimes arrives at the library and gets the package left for her by Jack and Ianto. She investigates the newspapers and discovers where she is in the timeline of events. After a great deal of introspection, she figures out that The Doctor whispered his name into her ear while she was in the Void. Oh and Jackie insisted that Artimes move in with her and simply wouldn't take no for an answer. Blimey, she's one stubborn woman.
Looking Forward: Artimes bites the bullet and reveals her secret to the elder Tyler. They discuss what she is going to do in the future and the red head explains why she told Jackie her secret. Artimes spends the holidays with Mickey and Jackie and her fears and doubts begin to take root. The ginger haired woman begins to relive her time in the Void as a result, only endearing herself more to the elder Tyler and to Mickey.
Now enough spoilers from me! On with the show!
Chapter Four: Ripples and Realities
It had been a little over a month since Artimes had been invited to live with Rose's mother. During that time, the red head had met Mickey and upon hearing that she knew about the Doctor, the two had become fast friends. Her relationship with Jackie was even more surprising as the elder Tyler seemed to have unofficially adopted her as her daughter. She would always fuss over the ginger's well being and always made she was never alone for too long.
The whole thing was just very bizarre for Artimes. Her family hadn't been the most supportive and she was usually ignored unless they demanded her to do something or to help out. She had never been allowed to be upset or angry or even depressed. They always wanted her to be happy, helpful, and basically at their beck and call. Jackie seemed to have picked up on this because she never demanded anything but instead always asked. It was one of the many reasons why the ginger loved Jackie so much. She had actually slipped up a couple of times and called her mum, not that the blonde woman minded much.
The two were currently sitting on the sofa in the living room and Artimes had a growing headache. She had spent the last hour trying to dumb down spatial/temporal mechanics, but if the expression of complete confusion on the elder Tyler's face was anything to go by then she was failing miserably.
"Okay, explain it to me again." Jackie instructed.
Artimes sighed in exasperation. How she was going to explain the concept of parallel and alternate realities to the technologically challenged blonde woman? It was a highly daunting endeavor to say the least. She glanced at the glass of water on the table and an idea struck her.
"Alright, think of it like this. You throw a stone into a perfectly calm pond. Where the stone landed, that point of impact, is the world we are in right now, your world. The ripples caused by the stone hitting the water are worlds existing alongside this world. The further the ripples go, the more that world is different from your own. This is the basic concept of parallel worlds. I come from an alternate world, meaning that it is hundreds, if not thousands of ripples away." Artimes explained feeling completely daft.
She didn't know if she could explain it any simpler than that and her head ached from the effort of making things so simple. She had high functioning autism and ADD…she did not do simple because her brain short circuited on the simple things. One of the reasons why she loved Doctor Who so much; she adored the Doctor's techno babble because it actually made sense to her.
"How did you get here?" The blonde asked apparently finally understanding.
"There these cracks, weak points where the walls have been breached. One of these cracks opened and I was sucked inside, kind of like a vacuum cleaner. It took me into a place called the Void, the space between the worlds. It is the place the Eternals referred to as 'The Howling', the Timelords called it 'The Void, and some people called it Hell because there was no light just darkness, no sound just silence, and even time didn't exist there. I was brought out of the Void by a future version of the Doctor. He pushed me out, he saved me, and it brought me here." The red head answered her eyes growing sad, remembering that he might still be in there.
He would be there until Amy remembered him and God knew how long that would be in correlation to Artimes's personal time stream. Of all the places the Doctor had to end up after being unwritten, it had to be the Void. She understood now why he had been so sad when they had met in the Void. He didn't know if his plan would work and that Amy might not remember him. All that sadness and desperation…Artimes was beginning to think that maybe, one day, there might be a place for her in his life, if only for a little while.
Jackie noticed how the ginger's eyes filled with sadness and worry and she knew that the red head was thinking about the Doctor.
"And in your world, there's a show on the telly called Doctor Who that tells ya all about the Doctor, and even me and Rose." Jackie stated pulling the young woman back into their conversation.
"Not everything, just certain points…like the ship crashing into Big Ben, Rose missing for a year, and how her job got blown up. Stuff like that." Artimes clarified honestly.
"But why are you here? I mean, there has to be a reason, yeah? Like, I dunno, maybe you have some kind of destiny you're suppose to fulfill." The elder Tyler suggested.
"I honestly don't know, Jackie. There are so many things I don't know. I mean, I found you quite by accident. I was just wandering, that's all. Walking around London and trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do. I know this is a lot take in and that it sounds completely insane…" The ginger started her voice inching closer and closer to hysteria as her emotions started getting the better of her.
"I believe you." Jackie interjected shocking the red head into silence, "It's too mad not to believe and after what I've seen with the Doctor, it's not really that much of reach, now is it? I do want to know one thing."
"Anything." Artimes replied.
"Rose took off in that box and I haven't seen her in ages. She was going to save the Doctor in the year 200,100. Is she alive? Is she alright?" The blonde asked her worry evident.
"I won't lie to you, Jackie. What Rose did was beyond stupid, but it was the only way to save the Doctor and the whole human race in the future. Looking into the heart of the Tardis is something that should never be done. That kind of power cannot be fully controlled; however, the Doctor did save her. He took the power out of her and put it back where it belonged, inside the Tardis. She is safe, she is alive, but she won't remember what happened while the power was inside of her. It's been wiped clean from her mind. The Doctor and Rose will be returning here, but considering his driving, I'd wager around Christmas." The red head answered not filtering the truth any at all.
The elder Tyler relaxed, believing the ginger's words which kind of surprised Artimes. Did Jackie really trust her to tell her the truth and that the blonde believed she had knowledge of the future? Jackie had told her about the times when Rose had been home and the crazy crap that had happened and from those stories, Artimes was fairly certain that she had foreknowledge but at the same time, she wished she didn't. So many people were going to die or be hurt or be lost and the Tyler's and Mickey were a part of that number. Why did she have to carry that burden…the burden of remembering the lost?
"Are you going to tell the Doctor?" The blonde asked.
"I can't. I possess knowledge of his future, his personal future and if he were to discover that and try to change something that is supposed to happen then it would kill us all. Time itself would collapse and everything will be destroyed. I can't take that risk, Jackie. There are simply too many lives at stake. He can never know I'm from an alternate reality or about the show. He'll eventually discover that I have traversed the Void, but he'll only assume that I fell through from a parallel world not an alternate one. Promise, you won't tell him, Jackie…please." The ginger answered her tone pleading.
"Why'd you tell me?" Jackie asked momentarily side stepping the ginger's plea.
"Because I don't want there to be secrets between us. You took me in when you didn't have to, a strange girl who appeared out of nowhere and had no place to go. You gave me home and treated me like family, when I had nothing left to hold on to. It felt wrong to keep you in the dark and that is the thing about me, Jackie. I always follow my instincts and I just knew that I needed to tell you." Artimes answered her eyes showing everything she was feeling.
The elder Tyler stared into her eyes for a few moments before smiling softly.
"I won't tell him, but if you go off with them then you better do everything you can to keep yourself and Rose safe. I don't want to lose either one of my daughters, have you got that?" The blonde stated giving her a stern look.
"Yes, Mum, I promise." Artimes vowed smiling in relief.
"Good, now will you help me with dinner?" The elder Tyler asked.
Artimes grinned at the blonde woman before nodding and following her into the kitchen. She was glad that there was at least one person who knew and accepted the truth about her. It made her feel a little less lonely.
The days flew by a lot faster than Artimes thought they would. Mickey had become a constant visitor to the Tyler residence and seemed to have taken on the role of the ginger's very protective brother. He and Jackie showered her with attention and most often, it made her uncomfortable…mostly because she wasn't used to it. It was now November, Thanksgiving to be precise and the three of them were celebrating in the Tyler flat.
Mickey was carving the Turkey because he was the only male in the house and he had gone on and on about how it was tradition for men to carve the turkey. Artimes had simply rolled her eyes and let him do it. Jackie was talking a mile a minute about some bloke from the meat market called Howard. Artimes remembered that it was because of Jackie's interactions with the man that would eventually lead to the Satsuma incident aboard the Sycorax ship, so she encouraged Jackie to pursue the odd fellow. Personally, he gave her the creeps and was always eying her up like candy. She wondered briefly if she was the reason why he had started delivering to the door.
She let her mind wander to Jack and his team. She had been in constant contact with all of them with the exception of Suzie. She never knew why she didn't have Suzie's number but just assumed that it had to do with something she probably said to Jack in the future. Her dear foxy captain had been badgering her about how she was doing. She kept telling him that she was fine and everything was going great at the Powell estate…and it was but in truth, she was getting restless. She also becoming more anxious and nervous. It was almost like the longer she spent away from the Doctor, the more out of place she felt.
She knew that in a month's time, she should meet the Tenth regeneration of the Doctor. She was worried that she would slip up about her origins and he would learn about her foreknowledge. She was already regretting her decision to not tell the Doctor, and she was beginning to doubt herself as well. She honestly didn't want to lie to him, but this was just too big, too fantastical, too insane, and far too risky to talk about. She would have to be in constant control, always observant, always guarded, and one hell of a good actress. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.
The Doctor would never believe her, would he? No, not until at least his Eleventh regeneration. Once he discovers the crack in Amelia's bedroom wall, there was a possibility that he would believe her. God, she hated temporal mechanics! Still, she couldn't let her past sour her time with the Doctor, whether it be a little or a lot. When Rose and the Doctor arrived, she won't leave his side. She had always wanted someone to be there for the lonely time traveler and now she could…even it was only while he slept to recover from his rather volatile regeneration.
She really didn't hold out much hope to being invited along to travel time and space with him and Rose. For starters, she wasn't perceptive or brilliant like Rose or even half as good as his other companions, both pre and post. Moreover, Rose and the Doctor shared so much history already and she couldn't bring herself to get in the way of that. If they did invite her, she would make certain that they both talked about it and neither were being pressured into it by the other. Then and only then when she give them her answer.
The red head glanced at her companions, who were currently engaged in conversation with each other and not really paying her any mind. It was times like these that made her wonder if they would actually miss her if she was gone or would they simply forget about her and move on like so many others had done to her in the past. Given her history, she was more inclined to believe the latter.
After all, they didn't really know her. Sure, Jackie knew her secret, but she doubted that the older blonde actually understood the true depth of her pain and sadness. It seemed rather unlikely to the ginger haired woman. Her reality was gone, her world was gone, her family was gone, and now she had nothing…nothing but the Doctor. She had to hold on to that and remember the promise of his name: 'Never cruel nor cowardly. Never give up, never give in.' Artimes pushed down the feelings of isolation and loneliness that threatened to drown her, put on a smiling face, and happily interjected herself into her friends' conversation.
*Dreamscape*
Artimes was running, running so far yet she never went anywhere. She was surrounded by the never-ending darkness and she was completely alone. She stopped running and whipped around jerkily, her panic and fear rising. She was breathing heavily and crying. The silence was pushing in on her from all sides, clawing at her heart.
"I don't know where I am. I don't know where I am." She cried her hands lifting up to clutch her head.
She jerked around, trying to find a way out. The reality of the situation was crashing down on her. She was alone, no one was coming for her. No one cared that she was gone. She was alone; completely, utterly, and horrifically alone.
"Doctor! Doctor, where are you?! You're supposed to be here! Please…Doctor please. I don't know where I am. I don't know where I am." She sobbed the tears continuing to stream down her face.
*End Dreamscape*
Artimes awoke suddenly, her eyes flying open. Her gaze landed on the distraught elder Tyler. Jackie had apparently been trying to wake her by shaking her, if the hands she felt on her shoulders was anything to go by. The blonde forced the ginger into a sitting position and wrapped her arms tightly around her.
"You're safe, sweetheart. The Doctor saved you, remember? You're not in the Void anymore. He saved you. You're safe, you're safe." The elder Tyler whispered into her hair as she gently rocked the ginger haired woman, rubbing her back in a soothing manner.
Artimes felt numb, like her insides had been hollowed out. She felt the hot liquid of her tears flowing down her face and she realized that she was crying. The sensation broke her out of her daze and she began to sob, burying her face into Jackie's shoulder. The longer she waited for the Doctor to come, the more empty and hollow she felt. She didn't know why, but she needed the Doctor. He needed to be there and soon…otherwise she was going to losing her mind. She silently pleaded to the stars to let the days pass more quickly so she could she see the Doctor again.
Lady A: Voila! Chapter 4: Ripples and Realities is complete! Quite a bit going on in this chapter and not all of it good. And seriously, she had tell someone about her being from an alternate universe and it couldn't be Mickey because he eventually travels with Doctor and would at some point blurt it out right in front of him. Now, I know that Artimes seems a bit off and it's not just because of her time in the Void. Things will become more apparent as move we move further into the story.
Leave tons and tons of reviews and the Doctor will be arriving in the next chapter so keep a lookout for Chapter 5: Merry Christmas! Stay tuned!