The clock on the dash, and her aching knees told her that she had drove all night. She rubbed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair, making a face. She sighed and opened the door, stepping out into the cool early morning air.
He opened the door and looked around, getting his bearings. The crickets and cicadas were nearly unbearably loud and off to his right was a small creek with a chorus of bullfrogs. He stepped out onto the crushed gravel road, and walked along, the ditch going from overgrown brambles to a neatly mowed slope. The clouds overhead rolled, partly obscuring the waxing moon above. But he was able to make out a small country church and various headstones arranged around it in uneven lines. He opened a small gate and walked past old crumbling stones. Down the hill leading toward the creek were newer ones, and rounding the corner, partly obscured by a large maple tree, he saw his companion, hunched over.
"I knew you would find me. You really can see for miles and miles." Kierra wiped her eyes on her sleeve and stood up. He walked up quietly beside her and followed her gaze to the temporary marker. 'Brendon Lyle James' was stenciled across the aluminum marker, along with his birth and death dates. She cleared her throat. "Mom, she is so cheap, he has been dead for months and still has not gotten a proper headstone for him."
He looked at her as she cupped her nose. She stared off into the woods, then looked at him. "Kierra?" he asked softly.
She bowed her head, tears splashing on her shoes. They stood in silence, then suddenly she sighed. "I used to call him Brenda. Annoyed him to hell. 'Bren-dah' I used to taunt. 'Bren-dah, your toy tractor is stoooopid and you smell.'" She hiccupped a laugh. "I was not too imaginative with my insults." She toed a dandelion head at her feet. "He was my best friend though, when we were in a new school and I was wandering around alone and lost, he would find me and make sure I got to where I needed to be. He was the best older brother, and I was utterly lost when he went off to college." She choked on a sob. The Doctor pulled her into an embrace and they just stood together for what felt like an eternity. "You better?" he asked, and she nodded her head slowly. "Are you sure? You are really warm." She sighed.
"You are just trying to distract me."
"Yes. Is it working?"
"No."
"Gooo-wait. No? Oh." She looked back at the grave. "So…" he started in a gentler tone. "What happened to him?" She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder, eyes closed.
"I would like to know myself. " He handed her a handkerchief. "It has been something of a mystery," she continued after blowing her nose. "A very bad mystery, in fact." She tried to hand it back to him but a barely perceptible grimace across his features told her to keep it. She sighed and continued, talking faster now. "Brendon was a genius. Like, he was the smartest person I ever knew. You remind me of him, actually, and you always have. Is that strange? I suppose it might be. But he was always talking about this scientific discovery or that medical breakthrough… and it was inspiring instead of being annoying. I could listen to him talk for hours about the oddest topic and not be tired. He was just that charismatic." She ran her fingers through her hair. "He went to college and was a total chick magnet. He was handsome and smart, and he would come home and tell me about the crazy plots these hormone driven wives-to-be would come up with. I came to London and I told him about the wild parties and he would get all mock-angry at me for not studying hard enough. Then he would tell me about how he finally figured out how to balance this one tricky equation and I would get angry at him for not partying hard enough. It was all in good fun.
"But one day, I remember it well. I woke up in the bathtub to the phone ringing. I knew it was bad since the ring just sounded urgent, somehow." She laughed. "Isn't it funny how that works? You can tell the difference between if it is just Susan telling you that she moved in with John again and when your mom calls to tell you that your brother has been murdered in the park." She had been backing up slowly and suddenly hit the headstone behind her, sitting down hard. She lifted her eyes to his worried face. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said slowly. "Got killed by some random guy who ran off, and nobody knows who it was. The police did an investigation, but the other person who was there did not see the murderer and said he did not know him. The case went cold, we got no closure, and mom hit the bottle," she said bitterly. "She and I hadn't got along well anyway. When I left we were not exactly on the best of terms. Then when he died she just flipped out, and started blaming it on me. Like I killed him with my own hands." She scratched her neck. "That's when I went downhill, of course. Who could handle that?"
He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the crushed box, handing it to her as he sat down on the ground in front of her, ignoring the dewed grass. "Is this what caused all of this?"
She took it from him gingerly. "You killed my only child" she read aloud, tears thickening her voice again. She dropped the box on the ground. "She always liked to remind me that she did not want me, but that my father wanted Brendon to have a sibling to grow up with. They moved a lot and he wanted for him to have a permanent friend and peer, and I needed a home. She adored him, and hated that he adored me instead of mother dearest." She swallowed and pointed at the box. "When I got that, that was the first time I had to think about home and everything like that since I met you. And I thought," her voice rose suddenly, "what if?" she slid to the ground and looked him in the eyes, getting in his face. "Doctor, I know that I cannot go back and save him, I understand that. But what if… what if things had happened differently? What would life be like now? I need to know, Doctor. I need answers!" she grabbed his shoulders. "I need my life to make sense, I need Brendon, I need—" her voice cracked and she rocked back on her heels, reacting to the blank look on his face. "I need to get out of here," she gasped as she rose to her feet and ran off.
He watched her as she made her way, bleary eyed and sobbing, through the headstones. He rose silently to his feet and followed, catching her quickly. He grasped her arm, and she turned on him, trying to hit him. He held her arms as she raged, then suddenly all fight left her and she crumpled against him, crying. He led her to the Tardis, to her bed, gave her a glass of something to drink, and walked back out, without saying a word. She meekly followed his lead, the look on her face filling her with dread. She realized she had demanded of him something he wouldn't do, and was suddenly scared of him, much more scared than she had been hours before. She sat on the edge of the bed, wondering what was going to happen, when fatigue settled on her, and she laid down, falling into an uneasy sleep, where hard brown eyes glared at her all through her dreams.
She awoke with a start, to him standing in the doorway, a bowl of frosted flakes in one hand and a small carton of milk in the other. "Here we go… thought you would like some good old cold cereal," he said lightly.
She took the bowl tentatively, and watched warily as he produced a spoon from his breast pocket. She ate the cereal quietly as he sat beside her, adjusting his tie and humming to himself. She thought she recognized the tune, but was not certain until he growled " 'cause every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man!' then broke out into air guitar. She wondered how they covered his lobotomy stitches so well when he got to the second verse he looked her way and suddenly trailed off. She put the bowl aside and started to get out of bed, when he cleared his throat.
"Listen… I've got something I need to tell you." He creased his brow. "I've got to go. Just for a few days though!" he clarified, seeing the look of panic that crossed her face. "I have this thing I have to do, and it is urgent. You have this wedding to get ready for, and I think your friend would dearly love someone new to worry with. I imagine her friends and family are about to lose their minds. You should stay here with her, and take care of her for her big day. Do not worry, I will be back in time for the wedding itself. I promise." He stood up and leaned down, kissed her forehead, then walked out.
She gaped until he popped his back in the door "So, if you could get ready, that would be very helpful." She jumped and dressed quickly, running things over in her mind.