Chapter 8: Caught.

POV: Mara

Date: June 20, 2007

When I was twelve, I started sneaking out almost every night. Sometimes I would be with the Misfit Club. Sometimes not. Most of the time I would end up wandering the streets anyway. It didn't matter where I went. I would usually come home around 3 in the morning or so, and prayed Jenny wouldn't hear me. After a while, though, I stopped caring if she caught me or not.

I glanced at my watch when the Misfits started to run off towards each of their homes. It was 2:30. With a sigh, I tucked my hands into my gloves and jogged for home. Jenny had been fast asleep when I left, but Time Lords didn't need much rest. She'd probably be getting up for her early morning jog soon.

I cursed when I found my window shut tight. I had sworn I'd left it open, but maybe it had slipped while I was gone. I huffed, and closed my eyes to try to feel if Jenny had woken up yet. She was still muted—still asleep.

I let out a breath of relief before I went around to the front.

I pulled out the key from around my neck and unlocked the door as quietly as I could. It opened with a slight click, and I tiptoed inside. I turned and shut it gently, and held my breath as I locked it. I let the air out in a slow, steady stream before I turned and started to sneak over to the hallway.

I froze mid-step when a light flipped on, and slowly turned to face her.

Jenny sat in the armchair by the window. Her expression was blank as she stared at me. I waited for her to say something, but she didn't. The silence stretched on as the minutes ticked by, until I stepped forward and slunk onto the sofa.

I swallowed. "How long have you known?"

"The whole time." Her voice was flat. I kept my eyes on my hands. I felt nothing coming from her, just that same muted feeling, as if she was still asleep.

I bit my lip. "Oh."

"How do you think Mum and Dad would feel about this?" My sister's voice broke.

I clenched my teeth. "Well I wouldn't know, would I?"

We sat in tense silence for a few minutes.

"Jenny—" I started.

My big sister stood and held out her hand. "Give me your key."

I cowered away from her emotionless tone, and handed her the necklace. She shoved it into her dressing gown pocket and turned to go back into her room.

"Jenny," I whispered. "I'm sorry."

She stopped, and glanced back at me. "I know. That's what makes it worse."

I didn't sleep that night.


POV: Rose

Date: June 11, 2010

She came to me in dreams.

The woman with the eye patch visited me almost every night that I slept. She whispered and smiled at me with a cruel kind of encouragement. I never saw much of her figure—just her face. She always gave me that cruel little smirk from where she appeared behind a sliding metal panel.

This dream would always drive me mad, because I knew her. Knew her in a way that made me freeze with fear, and yet for the life of me, as soon as I woke I could not remember why.

But this dream wasn't the worst of my nightmares. It was only the most frequent. The nights I didn't see her face were filled with more terrors than I knew how to handle. These were the nights when my nightmares filled with white walls and Daleks and a war that never was. And while the dream of this strange woman was driving me absolutely insane—these dreams about my past were the nightmares that terrified me the most.

I woke one night frozen with fear. I couldn't even breathe after the images that I had just seen. Fire and explosions and people's desperate faces. They all pleaded with me to save them, even though they knew as well as I did that I couldn't. I wanted to cry out for my Doctor, but the sound was stuck in my throat. I felt my little girl cry out to him on the edges of my mind. I thanked her silently as she pleaded with him to find me while I stared blankly into the darkness.

The door opened, and the Doctor came running through. "Rose? Rose, I'm here. You're awake now. You're safe."

I wanted to answer him. I wanted to move, or speak, or even cry just to show some acknowledgement that I had heard him. But I lay frozen with my dead eyes fixed on him as he shook my shoulder.

"Rose?" He shook me a little harder "Rose Tyler, can you hear me?"

When I still didn't answer, he stood to take off his jacket and yank off his sneakers. I stayed still when he crawled into bed behind me. I felt him curl up against my back as he wrapped one arm around my middle and one underneath the pillow. He placed his lips at my ear and one hand over my own.

The tears finally came when he began to hum my lullaby.


POV: Rose

Date: June 11, 2010

I smacked my load of books down onto the table. "Doctor, it's time."

He blinked up at me with surprise. "Time for what?"

I handed him one of the books I'd been carrying. "We only have four months left. It's time to start looking at names."

"Ah." He took the book as I settled down beside him. "Did you have any in mind?"

I sighed. "Well, I've always liked something like Lila or Miranda, but those names jus' don't seem to fit her. Hence this load." I patted the books beside me. "Do you have any suggestions?"

The Doctor shot me a playful look. "You wouldn't like my suggestions."

I raised an eyebrow. "Try me."

He bit his lip. "Well you see Rose, on Gallifrey, names are really important. Not like here, where you name someone just about anything. On my home world a name had power. Not just anyone could be John or William. The name had to fit the person."

"So, what do you suggest?" I pressed.

The Doctor smiled, and leaned in to whisper in my ear.

My eyes widened when he pulled away. "That's, that's so..."

His face fell. "See? Knew you wouldn't like it." He turned to a baby book.

I shook my head. "No, I love it. We could call her Mara for short."

He gave me a surprised look. "Really? You're alright with that name?"

I nodded. "It fits her perfectly. Course, I still want a middle name, but that's just...beautiful. And a wonderful testament to her culture. I love it."

The Doctor grinned ecstatically, and kissed my cheek. "Thank you."

We sat in silence for a while as we flipped through hundreds upon hundreds of baby names. I huffed after making it halfway through one book, and tossed it aside. Slowly, I reached up to rub my temples.

The Doctor pursed his lips. "So, I've been wondering...have you considered...?"

I glanced up at his nervous face. "Yes."

He swallowed heavily. "And?"

I gave him a fond smile, and took his hand. "Doctor, I would love to, I would. But...my mum always had a dream of giving me away at my wedding, and even though she's..." I bit my lip and looked down at our hands. "It's important to me. Please. It's only four months more."

I felt a cool finger under my chin. "It's okay, Rose. I'm sorry I tried to rush you, it's just...I've been searching for a woman like you for a long time. Now that I've found you, I want to show the rest of the world how lucky I am."

I smiled at his words. "I know, but—"

He held up a finger. "You didn't let me finish. I've been searching for you for a long time. However, I would gladly wait for centuries more if it would make you happy—I can wait four more months for you."

I kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

The Doctor granted me my favorite smile before he turned back to the book in his hand. "These books are really rubbish."

I laughed. "Yeah, they really are."

"Where did you even find this one?" He squinted at the bright cover. "I mean, really? I've seen more versions of Thomas in this book than I feel are truly necessary."

I chucked the books away. "Okay, maybe we should jus' make a name up."

He grinned. "She could be an Ara, think of it! Mara Ara Tyler. Wouldn't that be a tongue twister! Try saying it five times fast. Mara Ara, Mara Ara, Mara Ara, Mara Ara, Mara Ara."

I laughed. "Okay, Ara is definitely out." I thought over the names that popped into my head for a moment. "I quite like Belle, or Leila." I glanced over at the window and froze.

There she was again. My mystery girl.

"Rose?" The Doctor poked my shoulder. "Rose, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Can't you see her?" I asked without ever taking my eyes off the girl. She looked so afraid of something. Her features made her look as if she was pleading with me for my help.

I felt a cool hand on my forehead. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

I stood and made my way towards the window. "What do you want from me?" I asked of her. "Why do you look so afraid?" I shouted, but the girl didn't react. I went up to the window and hesitantly reached out to touch the glass. It was cool under my fingertips. "Who are you?" I whispered.

"Rose?" I jumped when the Doctor placed a hand on my shoulder and spun me around to face him.

"Can't you see she needs our help?" I yelled at him, and spun back around to face the girl, but she was gone.

"C'mon, Rose, I want to take you into the TARDIS." The Doctor tried to tug on my arm.

I flinched away from him. "No. I don't want you to scan me. There's nothing wrong with me. She was here. She's real, and she needs us. She looks so scared, Doctor," I whispered.

"Please, Rose." He held out his hand. "It would make me feel better."

I stared at his outstretched hand for a moment before I gave in with a sigh. "Alright, but if the TARDIS attacks me again I'm blaming you."

He rolled his eyes. "Jenny! We're going up to give your mum a quick check up. Be back soon!"

"Kay!" Jenny called absently from her room as something crashed. "Dammit!"

The Doctor and I grinned at each other. "She is so your daughter," I said, and chuckled.

He rolled his eyes, and pulled me out of the house. I let him drag me up the stairs to the cliff top. The whole time, I panted and complained about the fact that we had parked the TARDIS so far away. The Doctor ignored me; he was wrapped up deep in thought as we approached the old ship. He unlocked her and pulled us inside.

I felt her growling at me as soon as I stepped foot into the console room. I shrank back into the Doctor's side when she sparked the console.

"Oi! Leave Rose alone!" The Doctor smacked one of the walls lightly as he pulled me into the med bay.

The TARDIS grumbled, and I jumped when my key shocked me. "Ouch! Not nice. You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Her lights dimmed, and I heard her let out a sad chirp.

"What do we say?" I prompted.

The TARDIS sent out a puff of warm air that wrapped around me and blinked her lights a couple of times.

I smiled, and patted her. "I forgive you."

"How do you do that?" the Doctor asked.

I blinked. "What?"

"Understand her. You shouldn't be able to at all. Jenny and I can because we're linked with her, but you're human. You shouldn't be able to talk to her the way you do." He squinted at me and pulled out his sonic to wave it around my middle. "Sit on the table, please."

I raised an eyebrow. "Help me?"

The Doctor blinked, and then nodded. "Oh right, right! Yes, here you go." He helped me up onto the exam table and flipped around to another machine. "I'll just put these results in first..." He plugged the sonic into the machine and turned to another cabinet. He rummaged around until he found a thermometer. "Open."

I sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me."

"Open," he commanded.

I rolled my eyes, and opened my mouth. He placed the thermometer under my tongue and nodded. "Good." He spun around when the other machine bleeped, and tapped a few buttons.

"Doctor?" I mumbled around the device in my mouth. "Doctor, what is it?" He was staring at the screen with a dark expression on his face. "Doctor?"

He yanked his sonic out and spun around to face me. "Let's see what your temperature is, eh?" I coughed when he yanked the thermometer out of my mouth with more force than necessary. "Sorry. Looks perfectly normal. All's well."

"What did the sonic tell you?" I asked.

"What? Oh, nothing, just that you're fine." He extended his hand. "We should be getting back."

I hopped down and took his hand. The Doctor seemed to shiver at my touch. I scrutinized his face. "Are you alright?"

"What me? Fine. Perfect actually. Molto bene! Shall we go? I'd love to see whatever it was Jenny was working on, wouldn't you? Bet it's marvelous," he babbled as we made our way back to the house, and I tried to read his face. He seemed agitated over something, but his expression was closed off to me. That in itself sent a shiver down my spine.

I felt my little girl's nervousness, and stroked her mind with my own. "It's okay," I whispered. "We're all fine, I promise."