'Whatever Happened To…' challenge. It's my first time writing Susan, and I always struggle with the passing of time so I hope this turned out all right.
Life on Earth
Rebuilding the Earth was never destined to be an easy task. The Daleks may've been destroyed but they'd left behind a world full of shattered countries and terrified people. Many people had gotten used to living in fear and under the control of the Daleks that they didn't want to rise up and help the rebuild in case it wasn't real, in case Dalek forces reappeared and killed everyone who was working against them. Others were tired, tired of fighting, tired of working, and didn't want the hassle of rebuilding, they just wanted to live with what they had. Others were mentally or physically too ill to work. Over all in London, Susan and David could only find a few thousand to help them, and the story was the same throughout the country, throughout the world. The ones who could and would help gave their all; shifting rubble and slowly but surely starting to rebuild London. Slowly but surely rebuild the Earth.
Rebuilding the Earth was never destined to be a quick task. Susan and David stayed in London and the days seemed to pass with more than 24 hours in them. Time stretched on slowly as though it was trying to stand still but was forced to continue. 6 months passed in what felt more like 6 years and yet London didn't change. Looking at it closely the changes were there but they were small. The River Thames was no longer a wasteland for dumping rubbish and dead bodies. Many of the people who had been killed during the Daleks rule were properly laid to rest in a burial and memorial service that could rival the end of the World Wars. Rubble was salvaged or scrapped and lost buildings had begun to take shape again. Over all, though, London was still the destruction site it had been 6 months previous.
David worked hard at getting things growing. Pride filled him as an orchard started to grow it what had been barren land. It wasn't what most people would call an orchard but it was the beginnings of one. David couldn't help but see the newly planted trees as a sign that thinks were starting to look up. Life was going on, it was going to get better. It was going to go back to how it was before the Daleks came. People were going to own the earth again. The way it should be. As well as growing things David worked with animals. Farms slowly started to form again, and he wanted to be there caring for them, helping it along the way.
Susan came to love the area near beside the River Thames more than she had ever loved one place before. She had returned there the day after the Doctor had left her just so she could get her TARDIS key back. She had dropped it in the initial shock and desperation of losing one life and gaining another but she didn't really want to lose it. She placed the chain around her neck and rarely took it off from then on. After picking up the key she stayed staring at the water. It became a comfort for her, somewhere familiar. It was only a few metres from where the TARDIS had landed when she first got here. It was also a reminder that the Earth wasn't as small as it seemed. Despite the fact that she had stayed in the 1960s with her Grandfather for some time, Susan wasn't used to be in one place. London seemed so all compared to the universe of time and space that she was used to. That stretch of water calmed her down whenever she felt herself getting upset and reminded her that there was a whole planet across oceans.
One of the hardest things for Susan had been getting used to going to sleep and waking up in the same place in the same time period. She had gotten out of that habit once her teachers had stumbled into the TARDIS. She had got used living her life all over time and space and it kept confusing her to find time moving in the correct order like it should. Each time she went to sleep she half expected to wake up in a different place. Each time she woke up, she only just stopped herself from asking where they were this time. She was unsure if it was because she was missing the TARDIS and her way of life or simple because it was hard to get out of that habit. Either way it made life on Earth hard to get used to
Finding clothes for Susan hadn't been too hard a task. David knew some people who were willing to give her some old clothes. Along with that one of London's major shopping centres hadn't been completely destroyed and had many abandoned shops, so they got her some clothes in there as well. Susan hadn't been happy with the idea 'Surely it's stealing' she had pointed out.
'Maybe technically, but the shop's closed down, there's no one here to pay even if we wanted to' David had replied 'and anyway, we're more than paying for it with the working we're doing for London. Because of us and the others like us London will, in time, be a fully running city again. A few sets of clothes is the least we can take by way of payment for it'
'I guess' Susan had mused. 'I just wish Grandfather had been a bit more sensible about this. He should've at least let me get some of my belongings'
'The Doctor knew that if you went back into the TARDIS there's no way you'd have come back out in this time' David had said. 'He knew this was what you wanted but that you didn't want to leave so it was better for him to do the hard bit for you'
Susan had smiled 'Yeah, he always was an old softy under that hard exterior'
The idea of oceans reminded Susan of the TARDIS. An ocean was a stretch of water that separated one place from another, it was easy to get from the two places, but the ocean itself was unpredictable. No one could tell the water how to flow just like despite gaining some control the Doctor couldn't direct the TARDIS precisely. It was easy enough to get from point A in time and space to point B but if the TARDIS didn't want to go there, the TARDIS wasn't going to go there. Just like if an ocean didn't want you to get across it then you'd never be able to get across it. Susan began to wonder if the ocean was some sort of life force, like the TARDIS. Not an actual living being but alive all the same. Either way the ocean was beautiful. Either way stretches of water were the one connection Susan still had to the life she was used to.
Susan and David settled, uneasily, into one of the safety bases David had stayed in during the invasion. It wasn't ideal, it wasn't comfortable but to begin with it was all they had. It was shared with a number of others: people David knew; people he didn't; people who could help; people who couldn't; people who would help; people who wouldn't. In many ways it was as if humanity had come together, even people who didn't agree on the best course of action were sharing accommodation and looking after each other. It wasn't all good, there was no end of arguments, some of which escalated into full-blown fights but at the end of the day people were there for each other.
In the first few days of attempting to rebuild London, David made a promise to Susan 'When this job's done we're going to have the most beautiful house there is'. Susan had smiled admiring his optimism, but wanting to focus on the job in hand. There would be time to think about afterwards when the job was nearly done, it was going to take time and it needed the majority of their attention. David had meant it though, every few weeks he'd repeat the promise, showing that he hadn't forgot, showing that he really meant it. He even started showing Susan pictures of possibly designs for houses. Slowly but surely his optimism rubbed off on her, and she began to believe that they were going to get their beautiful house.
The idea excited Susan; she had never truly had a home before. Much like the Doctor, Gallifrey had never really felt like a home to her so she had been glad to get away. The TARDIS was the closest she had had to a home, but she wasn't sure it could really be classified. It wasn't somewhere to settle down in, it was somewhere constantly on the move. Susan couldn't wait until David's promise became a reality and she had a home to live her life in. She knew, though, that it would be a long time coming.
Susan knew the number of hours and even the number of minutes but she tried not to think more than that it had been seven months and three days. It wasn't a long time, it certainly felt like a lot longer, but it was long enough. Long enough for her to believe she understood what it was to live like a human. Seven months and three days since she'd seen her Grandfather, it wasn't so much that she desperately wanted to see him, more than she couldn't get used to him not being around. She couldn't get his words out of her head:
Believe me, my dear, your future lies with David, not with a silly old buffer like me! One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye, Susan. Goodbye, my dear.
Every time she thought about it she couldn't help but think that it sounded like a permanent goodbye. She couldn't put her finger on what it was, whether it was the way he worded it or his tone of voice she didn't know, but she had a feeling that she was never going to see him again. She felt her hearts break at this thought but she tried not to get upset over it. She owed a great deal to him for making the decision to lock her out. She wanted this life even if she would always have been too stubborn and scared to admit it. Now she had it, she was sure that even if the TARDIS did materialise in front of her she wouldn't go with the Doctor again.
The Doctor and David were alike in some ways and complete opposites in others, Susan quickly realised while living with David, and she was sure that was part of the reason she loved him. He was familiar and new all in one. Him and the Doctor seemed to think the same about her. David had told her that staying with him would give her identity, while the Doctor told her it would give her roots.
It was late and Susan knew she ought to sleep. She had a long day of work starting in the morning, as she did most mornings, but sleep didn't want to come. It had been a week or so since she had really thought about the Doctor and everything that had come to leaving her here and now she had started thinking about it she couldn't stop. She snuggled closer to David and he, in his sleep, put his arm around her. Susan smiled to herself. It wasn't easy and she would never forget the live she had before but she belonged here now.
DW
Susan couldn't explain it but David seemed to understand anyway. A year had passed with her living on earth and she found the day difficult. She felt as if it was the anniversary of someone's death and yet she knew that wasn't right, no one she knew had died. Her Grandfather was still out there travel, either with her teachers or without them if they'd gone back to their time. No death had occurred but the day was hard. She returned to the spot by the river where the TARDIS had dematerialised in front of her. She could remember the exact spot where it had been even though the area had been cleared up considerable in the year. She stayed staring at the spot for some time, not moving, not saying anything.
After a long while David spoke 'Do you regret him leaving you?' he was sure he knew the answer, but he wanted to check before he asked the next question.
Susan turned to face him, the saddest of smiles on her face. 'No' she replied. 'You were right, I belong in this time. With the identity you give me' she turned back to the empty space momentarily before turning to David again 'Sometimes I just miss him… it… everything, but no, no regrets'
David took hold of her left hand with his, digging his right hand into his pocket. He brought his right hand out a short moment later and knelt on one knee. 'Susan Foreman' he said, smiling nervously at her 'will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?'
Initially Susan was too shocked to say anything. She wasn't sure why she was shocked, she knew this day was going to come. A year before David had told her he wanted to marry her. She got over the shock quickly and smiled broadly 'Oh David' she said 'Of course I will'
David smiled matched hers and he threw his arms around her, lifted her into the air and spun her around. Susan rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him tightly as he put her back on the ground.
David had wanted the wedding to be perfect and he got incredibly close. Susan hadn't known much about human traditions but he had quickly got her clued up in them. They had decided to do everything traditionally. The wedding took place in a church, with everyone they knew there. David was in a tux and Susan in a beautiful, long, white dress.
It had taken over a year before the wedding actually took place because their plans kept being halting by the rebuilding. Both of them agreed it was worth the wait and it turned out to be a beautiful day.
'I do' They both said, completing the service, before kissing.
'Where are you going on your honeymoon' a number of people asked them during the reception afterwards and both of them shrugged. They hadn't thought about that. Both them had work to do in London and hadn't thought about going away.
'Well you have to go somewhere' people pressed. 'You cant just stay here'
Eventually they made the decision to go travelling on a yacht that an old friend of David's lent them. They started by travelling north towards Scotland, David had always wanted to go there then came back south, stopping off in Ireland on the way past. Ireland was much like England, slowly rebuilding. David wondered what it had looked like before the invasion but was glad to see it picking itself back up. The country was covered in beautiful landscapes with were just starting to reappear in all their glory. It was truly beautiful.
Susan and David had three children, twin girls and a boy. They named them Rosie, Violet and Heath. Natural names in honour of the work David had put into getting things growing again. When the twins were born David and Susan finally moved into their own place. It was nothing showy, just a good sized three bedroom house in the centre of the city. Susan told the children all about their Great Grandad the Doctor. The wonderful, almost unbelievable stories became a bedtime story for the three of them and was the bases for all their games when they were young. The children were beautiful. All having elements of both David and Susan in them both in looks and personality.
Heath was five and the twins seven when he asked Susan 'When's the Doctor going to come back?'
Susan smiled slightly, giving what she believed to be the most honest answer without crushing her son's hopes. 'It's impossible to say. He doesn't have much control of his machine. He may be aiming for one place and end up halfway across the universe in a different time period.'
'Oh. I hope he comes soon' Heath had replied.
Being a mixture of Time Lord and human the children had only one heart but had some regenerative powers. If they cut themselves the scar would fade much quicker than it would on a full human. No one seem to notice this, they weren't that accident prone so there was rarely cut and scrapes to be noticed, so they were able to grow up surrounded by other children with no one knowing they were at all different. After school and university Heath went into space science, wanting to travel out there like the Doctor, while Rosie went into medicine and Violet avoided science completely and went into music.
The years continued to pass. The twins settled down with husbands and children of their own and Heath made a strong career out of space travel. In her life on Earth Susan only regenerated once and that was so David would not grow old without her. She did see the Doctor again, in his fourth life she passed him in the street but neither of them were aware of this.
Finally, with 3 children and 5 grandchildren David died and Susan (knowing her body was getting too old and she would have to regenerate) choose to die with him.
The End
Tomorrow is 47 years since Doctor Who began in 1963 (how freaking awesome is that) and the TARDIS forum has a post-a-thon, and I should have at least three one-shots for it, a Doctor centric one, a 10/Rose one and a 5/Tegan one!
