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Chapter Ten- Two Opened Hearts

She was a fool. She was a goddamn fool. She hadn't needed to turn off the generator, or even see it, she'd just…wanted to examine it. Hope had never seen technology that could hold back the power of the Time Vortex, and…and now her wretched curiosity had led them all into a trap. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and pulled out her sonic screwdriver. "Hope, don't"- Anthony started to say, but she stopped him with a look. "Let me handle this" she muttered.

Anthony swallowed and nodded. Hope tossed the alien device to Halifax, saying "sonic screwdriver- not really sonic, not really a screwdriver, and it just opens and locks things or turns them on and off". The cruel businessman smirked and pocketed the device. "Thank you, my dear" he told Hope, who scowled at him. "I'm not your 'dear', I'm Anthony's. Now tell them to lower their guns!" she insisted.

"No can do, I'm afraid. You've all meddled in my affairs enough; the power I could get out of that breach will make me a thousand times richer. I'll be the one running this town. It is a shame I have to kill you, Miss Smith. After all, if it wasn't for you, I'd have never known about the goldmine I'd stumbled across" Halifax said airily. "Why are you doing this? Are you crazy?" demanded Digory.

Hope held up a hand, halting the rifle fire. "Actually, that's a good question. Why are you doing this? Thousands of innocents could be killed. I'm guessing this goes beyond…ugh…just plain greed" she winced. Halifax's eyes narrowed. "Take aim" he said callously. "Wait…come on, I won't laugh" she gasped out, stubbornly blinking away the tears of pain that threatened to fall from her eyes.

"You want to know why I'm doing this?" asked Halifax. Hope nodded. "Because I should be the one in charge of this city" he snarled, "like my father would have been before a wretch like this murdered him!" he jerked his pistol towards Oliver. "What? You wanna kill everyone because one guy killed your dad? That's messed up" said Andrew. "Shut up!" hissed Mabel.

"She's right, shut up. You slum-dwellers are all the same; rotten criminals wallowing in the dirt!" Halifax shouted hysterically. "Who gives a damn if you all die!" he cried, apparently forgetting that he would be eradicated too. Hope didn't know if it was the pressures of his job or long lasting survivors guilt over his father's death, or a mixture of both, but Halifax was obviously insane.

Through gritted teeth she said, "I'm sorry about your dad, but I have to stop you". With that, she set a high pitched pulse emanated from her sonic…screwdriver? As Halifax and his guards fell to their knees, Anthony stared at Hope in shock. "What, you didn't really think I'd hand the sonic over did you?" she laughed. Jenny leapt forwards and snatched one of the guards guns, Digory following her lead. Otto, Andrew and Mabel grabbed the two rifles and the pistol respectively.

"Now what?" asked Otto, when they heard a rumbling noise. The ground began to tremble. "What is that?" asked Mabel, aiming the gun at Halifax. Her hands were trembling. "The beginning of the end" answered Hope, pulling the wire from her hands. She tossed it to Andrew. "Tie Halifax up with this. Jenny!" she called, and her sister handed the rifle to Digory and jumped back over the hole at once. "Go back to Juni and get her to bring the city out of time…ten minutes or so should do it. Oliver, go with her and get the police" ordered Hope.

Jenny saluted and dashed off, Otto close on her heels. "What does she mean, bring Sterintol out of time?" he asked the blonde, who shook her head. "Less asking, more running! I don't have much time!" she called back.

/

Okay, Hope's taken charge- now it's my turn thought Anthony. "Hope, is there any reason why you need to stay here in this exact spot?" he asked his girlfriend, who shook her head. Anthony lifted her into his arms, taking care not to agitate her broken foot too much. It made him feel sick just looking at the injury. Hope squirmed in his arms, trying to get out of them. "It's fine. Put me down, I can hop. My dad did that once. Hopped for his life" she rambled.

Her boyfriend pushed past the guards and 'rebels' and headed down the corridor. "Do you seriously think you can make it to the TARDIS with a broken foot?" he asked. "The TARDIS won't be there, Ant", she whimpered in pain, "Jenny's putting the city in a bubble of space-time but the breach and the TARDIS will be left behind. Juni won't get destroyed, so…ah...don't…worry" she gritted her teeth, tears falling down her cheeks.

Anthony pushed on heedless of her words. "Better that I start heading back now. Hope, be honest – why don't you want me to help you? You've always been stubborn, but this is ridiculous even by your standards" he teased her, trying to make her smile. She stuck her tongue out at him instead. Oh well, at least she still had a sense of humour.

"I just…I hate pain…I feel weak. Useless" she managed to say. "Oh love, being in pain doesn't make you useless. You have no idea how impressed I am that you saved us all when you're in such pain" Anthony told her. "That's…just it…I can…help you…I can't… help…myself" she moaned, perspiring from the effort of speaking. "That's why I'm here. Save your strength, okay? We're gonna make it" he said determinedly.

The shaking was getting worse, and it was difficult to keep his balance, but Anthony persevered. As he emerged from the tunnel into a flurried crowd of panicking employees, the shaking abruptly stopped. Anthony looked at Hope, who smiled briefly, and he knew that Jenny must have gotten to the TARDIS in time. He continued to carry Hope through the streets to the plaza where they'd left the TARDIS.

He felt like everything was clear now. When Hope had struggled to tell him why she hated being in pain, she'd looked afraid. Not afraid of pain, but scared of being left helpless. Except it wasn't just pain, but any situation where she had to rely on someone else; Hope was scared of being dependent, Anthony was sure of it. When he reached the plaza, he set Hope down, keeping her leg elevated on his own, and cradled her head in the palm of his left hand.

Hope's beautiful blonde hair splayed out, her chest rising and falling slowly. She appeared to have fallen asleep, or into that healing coma that she'd taught him about. "It's okay" he murmured to her, ignoring the stares of other civilians. A couple of people asked if he wanted a lift to the hospital, but he declined, saying their ride would be here any minute. "There's nothing to worry about. Everything's going to be fine" he reassured Hope, squeezing her hand.

Juni silently materialised around her injured main pilot, the perception filters tricking everyone into thinking the newspaper stand had always been there in place of Hope and Anthony. The first notion Anthony had of this was when Jenny appeared at his shoulder, crouching down to help lift Hope. They carried her to the med bay, where Anthony set about X-raying and setting the break.

Whilst he was doing that, Jenny returned Sterintol to its proper place in time and space. The explosion had blasted out a thirty kilometre wide, five kilometre deep crater, and caused the breach to snap shut with the rebound force. Jenny didn't want to take any chances, so she sealed the breach out of time and space anyway.

She double checked that the breach wouldn't leak into the real timeline, and then went out to find Otto and his friends. She headed for the outpost of Halifax Industries near the crater that formerly held the breach, and found the police there arresting Halifax and all his employees. "Jenny!" cried a familiar voice. The young Time Lady waved to Digory and the others, flashing her psychic paper at the policeman guarding them.

He apologised and stepped aside. Jenny was glad she'd thought to change her jacket before coming out; she could've ended up being arrested, and that wouldn't have helped anyone. "Uh, Jenny, why is Sterintol suddenly in a crater?" asked Digory. "Oh it's an earthquake… sinkhole thing. I dunno, I failed geography" she shrugged. "Is Hope alright?" asked Otto. Jenny nodded. "I just came back to make sure you guys were alright, but I've gotta get going. See you around" she grinned, before sauntering off.

/

Back on the TARDIS, Anthony had finished patching Hope up. Of course, having a bone regenerator handy helped matters enormously. He held her hand as she regained consciousness. "Ant?" she asked blearily. "I'm here. We did it, Hope. We saved Sterintol" he smiled at her. Hope tried to sit up and get out of the bed, but Anthony pushed her back gently. "Oh no you don't; you've gotta stay off that leg for a few hours. I'm sure Jenny can handle flying Juni" he instructed.

Hope gave a frustrated groan. "I hate my life" she grumbled, and Anthony chuckled. "So…now that we've saved the day, do you want to have that talk?" he asked. Hope sighed. "I guess so…I talked to my parents about you and I and marriage, bonding, that kind of stuff. See, I'd always thought bonding meant you died with your bond mate, but my mum explained that we'd have a choice" she began.

"I've been thinking about it, on and off, all day and…I want to bond with you, but there's so much in the way, like, you having a human mind. No offence, it's not a bad thing, it's just that I don't even know if I can bond with you on that level" she explained hurriedly. Anthony smiled at her. "I understand. I've been thinking about it as well- actually, I've been trying to work out why you're scared of getting married or bonded. I think…I think it's because you're afraid of being dependent" he told her.

Hope's brow furrowed in confusion. Anthony explained his reasoning, and she looked thoughtful. He loved the scrunched up face she made when she was concentrating. "I think…you're right. I never really thought about it before, but I suppose I am a bit scared of being helpless. Except it's more than that. I'm not just scared of having to rely on someone, I'm…I'm scared someone will rely on me and…I'll end up failing them" she admitted.

It was clear who she really meant by 'someone'. "Oh, you could never fail me" Anthony told her, but Hope looked away, un-reassured. "I did it today" she said bitterly, "I led us all into a trap just because I wanted to see Halifax's force-field generator. I should've realised the damn corridor wouldn't lead to the damn machine!" she cried, thumping her fist on the mattress.

"Hope, I was the one who pointed out that tunnel. All of us should have realised something was wrong and turned back, but we didn't. You're not the only one at fault here" he told her. "Oddly enough, that doesn't make me feel any better" she huffed. Anthony leaned over and gave her a long kiss. "Does that?" he asked when he pulled away. Hope grabbed his lapels and pulled him back. "You should wear jackets like that more often" she murmured, before snogging him thoroughly.