"Why do you not run, human?"

"I have no reason to. You intend to kill me and I do not fear death."

This was how Emily came to find herself on the beach all these years later. Their beach. The Maquillian soldier bent down and picked up her journal. She looked up at him, his teal eyes boring into her. She shrugged and looked back out over the water.

"You say you do not fear death, human, but what of your Doctor? Do you fear his death? When he arrives, we will kill him and you shall be forced to watch."

"He's not coming."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I know my Doctor. Once he has made a decision, there is little that can change his mind."

The soldier smirked. "So he has abandoned you here?"

This stung more than she anticipated, but she didn't let it show. "My Doctor is a smart man. He understands, better than most, the idea of making sacrifices for the greater good. I have faith that he understands that my death is of little consequence in the grand scheme of the universe, and if not returning to save me keeps him alive, then that is what is important. The universe would not shed one tear at the loss of my life. It would, however, weep at the loss of his.

"I hope you realize what you are doing, going after the Doctor. A great many people owe him a great many debts. If you succeed in killing the Doctor, you will make more enemies than you can even begin to fathom." She was standing now, eye to eye with the Maquillian soldier. "I am but one human, and I would gladly lay down my life to save his. Imagine all of the beings he has encountered in all the years of all his travels that share my convictions. This is perhaps not your most well thought out plan."

"You speak too freely, human."

"I speak the truth."

The soldier began to flip through her journal. "Be that as it may, I think I shall have some light reading while we wait." Several other soldiers approached and forced her into a kneeling position.

"Tsk tsk tsk." The leader approached her again. "It seems more than friendship crossed your mind during your travels with him, human." He continued flipping through the journal.

"I won't deny it. It's irrelevant though."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Let's see if we can't hurry this process along, shall we?"

He pulled out a gun that was in the holster at his hip and pointed it towards her and pulled the trigger. A small blast of light hit the sand just inches from her knee, leaving a blast shaped glass formation in it's wake.

"That should register as hostile alien activity in his ship. If he cares so much about Earth, he is likely monitoring for just this sort of thing." He smirked.

It was quiet for some time. Emily closed her eyes and started picturing him again. It wouldn't be long now. They would tire of waiting, realize she wasn't the bargaining chip they had hoped for, and kill her. If she really focused she could almost hear that familiar noise the TARDIS made when it materialized. She could hear it more and more clearly, the longer she focused. Perhaps her body knew that she was about to die and was giving her this last fantasy. One last comfort. It sounded so real. Then she heard a click. There was only one thing in the universe that made that click. It was the sound of a TARDIS door opening.

Her eyes shot open. There it was. That great blue box, and there, stumbling out of the front of it was her Doctor.

"Hello Emmy."