Chapter 7

Emmy walked among a forest, pausing to feel the deep red grass between her toes. She gazed up through the tree's silver shining leaves that reflected the deep burning orange of the sky. The first sun was just setting, the sky ablaze in streaks of crimson and gold. The wind wound its way between the trees, wrapping itself around Emmy, blowing her hair and dress around. She laughed, content, happy to be home. She closed her eyes, letting the warmth of the rising second sun fill her, listening to the music of the wind in the trees. But something tugged inside her, her back tingling. Someone was watching her.

"Emmy!" A voice rang out behind her.

She whipped around to see who the owner of the voice, but no one was there.

"Emmy!" This time right beside her, she searched the trees intently, brow creased in confusion, hands on her hips.

"Hello?" She called out uncertainly, receiving no response. "Hello!" She shouted again with more confidence.

"Emmy." A gust of hot breath on her neck, whispered into her ear. She started, shrieking, turning to see the owner, but she was met with just the view of the path that travelled through the trees.

"Whoever you are, this isn't funny!" She cried out, wondering where the Doctor was. He would know, he always knew everything.

She could feel the dark presence all around her, funnily enough, the sky seemed to be turning to dusk. She felt trapped, backing into a tree, not sure where to run. A fog crept along the forest floor, slowly inching its way toward Emmy. A dark tall hooded figure appeared from the fog, striding its way to Emmy, its features hidden by the hood, onyx armour binding its body. It stretched a gloved hand, wrapping it slowly into a vice around Emmy's throat, no time for her to call out.


The Doctor shoved another Jammie Dodger in his mouth, and continued to tinker with the halogen sprinklers. Emmy was asleep, even though she was a Time Lord; her time under the perception filter had her body accustomed to a normal human sleep cycle. He wasn't aware of this in the beginning, and often got a very grumpy Emmy in the few times he woke her up in the middle of the night by mistake. He continued to work, but a bone chilling scream rang out. He dropped all of his tools, dashing up the stairs and around the corner. He tore the door open, to see Emmy cocooned in her sheets, enraptured in a nightmare, screaming his name. He went to her, tenderly placing his hands on each side of her face.

"Emmy, wake up!" He commanded, utterly distressed. "Emmy, it's just a dream, now wake up!"

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and upon recognising him, she sat up, drawing the sheet up.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" she reached a hand to her face, wiping the sudden tears, heat rising to her cheeks.

"You were having a nightmare. I just-Are you alright?" he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Emmy stared down at her hands, her fingers still trembling, "Yeah," she lied, pulling her hands under the sheets, still feeling like those gloved hands were choking her. "I'm okay."

The Doctor could tell that she wasn't, but he didn't want to push her too far. "Alright, I'll see you in a bit for breakfast?" He gave her a small reassuring smile, patting her shoulder, and stood up, straightening his bowtie.

"Yeah, sure." Emmy hollowly replied, listening to him shut the door behind him.

Emmy snuggled down in her bed, staring out into nothing, the details of her dream escaping her quickly, the planet on fire, the form in the fog all slipping away, leaving only the feeling of overwhelming dread.


Emmy curled up in the chair next to the console, contemplating her nightmare, half listening to the Doctor babble on and on, something she had gotten quite used to after three months of travelling with him. He continued on about stars, how he's "seen many come and go, and I once broke down on a star, which is apparently possible, but it started to eat away at the exterior shell of the TARDIS, and I only had thirty seconds to reconnect the purple spark plugs to get out of there. It was incredibly exciting. And terrifying."

The Doctor turned to fiddle with something on the screen when he caught Emmy out of the corner of his eye. She had her knees drawn up to her chest, her gaze concentrated on somewhere in the recesses of her mind, face incredibly sorrowful, crimson lips pursed, brow furrowed, he watched as her eyelashes gently fluttered on her damp cheeks. He couldn't help but feel his chest tighten; he's not very good at comforting. The last time he was supposed to comfort someone, she kissed him. Her eyes met his, filling with tears. But she wiped her eyes quickly, cheeks flushing scarlet, embarrassed that he saw her like this. She turned away from him, getting up, and starting down the stairs.

"Emmy! No, no, no," he scrambled after her, catching her arm, and gently turned her to face him. "Please, don't run. Rule number seven."

She shook her head, wiping her cheeks again, taking a shaky breath to hold back her tears, "Please, Doctor. I'm fine." She tried to insist, even though her voice betrayed her.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, softly shook his head, not believing one word.

Emmy couldn't stop her tears this time, she just turned away, squeezing her eyes shut, wrapped her arms around herself, to try to stop the sobs from wracking her body. She had bottled up her feelings for just too long; her identity pulled out like rug from under her, the fact that they had been on many adventures, and had yet to visit Gallifrey, she missed Dani the most, Dani was the family that she never really had, and the occasional phone calls barely made up for all the times that she wasn't in London with her. The Doctor reached out awkwardly patting her arm, she turned to him, wrapping her arms around him and wept openly into his chest. He stepped back, a bit flustered, not sure what to do with his arms, but he encircled her waist with one arm, and stroked her hair with the other. He lost count of how long they stood there; he concentrated on the feeling of silk running through his fingers, and the feeling of her warm breath on his throat. Emmy took a deep breath, pulling away from the Doctor's embrace, timidly looking away, and dried her face. He looked concerned, brow furrowed, eyes examining her.

"Thanks," she said, staring at her shoes, "I, uh, I needed that."

He grinned at her, blushing a bit, "You're welcome. You know what I'm in the mood for?"

"What?" Emmy's cheeks were bright red.

"Hot chocolate." He took her by the shoulders, leading her back to her chair, and set her in it. "I'll be right back, do not move!" He took off, sprinting up the stairs.

Emmy waited for only a few minutes, trying to make herself not look like a complete wreck. Before she knew it, the Doctor came slowly down the stairs, carrying two mugs, concentrating very hard on not spilling them, but was failing miserably. He handed her a mug, leaning against the console.

Emmy wrapped her hands around the warm mug, taking a sip, relishing in the heat spreading through her body, then a surprising heat going down her throat. She coughed, looking into the cup, "What is this, Mexican hot chocolate?"

He took a sip of his own, "No, Aztecan, well, yes Mexican if you think about it, but the Aztecs came first." he replied nonchalantly. Then clapped his free hand over his mouth, eyes wide, "Oh no, I'm not proposing to you!" He yelled, face flushed.

Emmy cracked a smile, "Doctor, how in the world is hot chocolate a proposal?"

"Well," The Doctor took a deep breath, still embarrassed at his stupidity; he should have grabbed the chocolate without the chilli pepper. "A long time ago, I was in Mexico, in 1454. And I shared a cup of hot chocolate with a woman, which apparently meant I intended to marry her. Which was not the case, at least on my part."

"Oh no!" Emmy giggled, covering her mouth, "So did you marry her?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Well, don't worry, Doctor. I have no intentions of being married to you." She giggled once more, taking another sip. "Thanks, again."

"You're welcome." He felt his cheeks hurting from smiling, something he just wasn't used to after spending so many centuries alone. An idea formed in his head, "Want to see something spectacular?"

"Of course!" Emmy responded, and he shoved his mug into her hand, hot chocolate sloshing over the edge.

He tapped her on the nose, and threw the TARDIS into gear, piloting it to one of the most beautiful spots he knew of.

"A star nursery, specifically 30 Doradus. It's quite near Earth, actually, part of the Tarantula Nebula. NASA sent a satellite to it some time ago; I believe it was called Hubble. "

He led her by her shoulders to the TARDIS doors, opening them, and setting her down, letting her legs hang out. He settled down next to her, admiring the sight before them.

The nebula was spread out in front of them, a safe distance away, but if you looked close enough, you could see new suns being born. It was spectacular, swirls of creamy white and burnt red against the inky navy canvas of the sky. Millions upon millions of stars begged for attention, each one individually striking. Even the Doctor felt miniscule in its presence.

After admiring the nebula for awhile, Emmy sighed, "Doctor, can I tell you something?"

The Doctor rubbed his hands together, "Of course."

Emmy ran her fingers through her hair, "I've been thinking a lot, about how I'm not human, how I was never human. Even though I grew up on Earth, learned the language, the customs, everything, and all
I have ever known is human. And there's nothing wrong with that. But ever since you came, and you showed me who I really am, I've realised that everything I've ever known is a lie. My parents, my family, they're not my real family. All the traditions that I know, they're not even mine. And I look back at my life now, and I realise how much I did not belong. But I don't belong here either."

The Doctor looked at her at that, brows furrowed. "Of course they're your parents, they raised you, didn't they? They still love you, so do your friends."

"But they don't know! And I don't think I could ever tell them, they'd probably lock me up and probe me."

The Doctor sniggered, "That's true, and they probably would. But you belong here, with another Time Lord."

She huffed in frustration, "I know, but that's just a label. I know nothing about Time Lords, I just feel like if we went to Gallifrey, met some other Time Lords-"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Emmy." He straightened his bowtie, voice darkening.

She turned to him, "Why not? Don't you ever want to go home, Doctor?"

He swallowed his throat dry, "I haven't been home in a long time, Emmy. And I don't plan on returning."

Her brow furrowed, "Then you can just drop me off for the day, right? I can find my way around. Maybe I could find..." she trailed off, dismissing the thought.

"Find who, Emmy?"

"My family." She said softly, without any hope in her voice.

The Doctor ran his hands through his hair, jaw tightened. He couldn't tell her, how would she ever trust him again? She would certainly ask to go back to Earth, who would want to travel with the murderer of their own race? But she deserved to know, he needed to be honest with her, if she put her complete trust in him, the least he could do would be to tell her the truth. But was he brave enough to let her go a second time?

"We'll visit one day soon, Emmy."

Selfish old man.

Her eyes lit up, and he hated himself for taking her complete trust for granted. But he felt relief, for he knew she would be by his side for now.

"Feel better now?" He asked tentatively.

She smiled at him, lovely as ever. "I do. Thanks. It's beautiful," she gestured toward the nebula.

He grinned back, undecidedly patting her shoulder, then placed his hands in his lap, twiddling his thumbs, longing for the sensation of her hand in his. They sat there for quite some time, watching new suns being born, she wondered what her real family was like; while he was filled with guilt, and balking at his lack of courage to hold her hand.

Their conflicted silence was broken by the TARDIS nearly throwing them out, a great rumbling shaking the floor, the pair leaped up, and holding on to the doorframe as they watched an enormous ship pass below them at an uncontrollable speed. It was at least forty decks, long and rectangular, quite like a cruise ship from Earth. They gawked in fear as it made its path straight toward the star nursery.

"No, no," The Doctor shut the doors, jogging to the console and typing in coordinates. "I fear that if that starliner reaches the nursery, it will destroy it. So many stars will not be formed; planets will not be able to support life without them. It can change the universe forever."

"So we're going to land on a crashing ship?" Emmy asked, arching an eyebrow.

The Doctor grinned, "Yes, are you ready?"

Emmy took a hold of the console, smiling, "Of course."

"Well then," the Doctor tossed a gear into place, "Geronimo!"