Chapter 9: Gone.

POV: Mara

Date: January 3, 2008

I woke on the morning of my thirteenth birthday with a slight smile. I touched the crystal around my neck, and my smile widened when the light melody echoed around my room. I quickly hopped out of my bed and turned to my dresser. On top there was a single rose and a small picture of people I didn't recognize attached to an envelope.

I picked it up reverently and opened the envelope with care.

Mara,

Your sister has told us about the trouble you've got yourself into over the past year or so. We understand why, and we're so very sorry, Mara. We know how hard this is for you. Please understand that this situation is hard for all of us—your sister included. Go easy on her, love. She misses us just as much as you do.

You've probably already guessed this, but the picture you're holding is of us. We hope you keep it close, and know that we are coming for you. We love you.

Happy Birthday, little Cricket.

Love,

Mum and Dad.

I stood frozen as I stared at the picture in my hands. My mum was beautiful. She had long blonde hair like Jenny, and kind hazel eyes just like my own. What shocked me, though, was the image of my Dad. I knew him. He was the man from the park when I was nine. Why had he appeared to me then?

I remembered the statues that I had seen that day, and then when I had seen them again at the Misfits' mansion. I also remembered the expression that had been on his face when he'd pulled me away from the statue in the park. He'd looked...afraid. But how did those statues connect to my parents?

There was another thing that caught my attention though.

I startled Jenny when I burst through the door of the kitchen. "Have you had contact with Mum and Dad?"

She placed a hand over her hearts. "Mara! You scared me!"

"Don't avoid the question!" I shouted, and held up the letter. I knew my forceful reaction seemed out-of-the-blue, but I couldn't keep ahold of the anger that had risen up within me. "They say you've told them about "all the trouble I've gotten into". Have you had contact with our parents?"

My sister stared at me with her mouth slightly open. "Mara…"

I felt tears sting my eyelids. "You have, haven't you?" My voice broke over the words, and I blinked back the tears. "How long?"

Jenny bit her lip. "I shouldn't let the pancakes burn." She turned back to the stove.

"How long!" I screeched.

Her shoulders slumped as she flipped another pancake. "Most of your life."

I tried to suck in a breath, but it got lodged in my throat. "What?"

She turned to face me. "They charged me with protecting you, so they come to me in dreams. It isn't all the time, and never for very long. When they do it sends out a huge message to anything nearby that wants to harm you, so I have to drive out as far as I can…it's only to protect you, Mara."

I let out a short laugh. "From what?"

Jenny sighed heavily, and her eyes filled with that familiar sadness. "I'll tell you when you're old enough."

Anger clouded my vision. "Well when will that be? Huh? When will little Mara be old enough to handle the secret? When I'm twenty? Thirty? What else have you lied to me about?"

She wouldn't look at me.

It hit me then, and my face fell at the realization. "So you have lied to me," I whispered.

"Mara…"

"What's in that little blue book of yours?" I asked." I know about the poem, but what else? Why am I not allowed to read it?"

"Mara—" Jenny reached out for me.

I flinched away. "I trusted you," I hissed. "But I guess that was all for nothing."

"No, Mara. I swear it's only to protect you. You're my sister, and I love you. You can trust me," she whispered the last part of her statement.

I glared at her. "Fine. If all of this really is just to protect me, and you really do love me, then tell me this. What are those angel statues?"

Jenny's face paled, but she stayed silent.

I raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

She turned back to the pancakes. "I'll tell you when you're older."

My lip curled with anger, and I rushed for the door. "I think I'll have breakfast out today."

As soon as I was out of the house I was running. I pushed myself as fast as I could towards the mansion. I knew none of the Misfits would be there, but that was fine. I really just wanted to be alone. I could feel Jenny crying out to me, so I blocked her. The emptiness brought tears to my eyes, and once they fell, I couldn't make them stop.

I crashed through the door of the house and stopped. I let myself catch my breath for a moment. All around me the house was as quiet as always. I shoved the picture of my parents into my pocket, and ran upstairs where I knew those statues would be.

And there they were. It was almost as if they had been waiting for me.

"What are you?" I demanded. "What do you want from me?"

I heard a scratching from my left, and turned to look. I jumped—one of the statues was reaching out for me. I turned to look at the others, and screamed. They both had moved closer to me. They're once covered faces now looked on me with placid smiles and blank eyes.

I stumbled back for the stairs, and screamed again when a chest collided with my back.

"Don't blink," a strangely familiar voice hissed. "Keep looking at them!"

I kept my eyes wide open as we backed down the stairs. "What are they?" I squinted against the dryness of my eyes, and gave in to blink. I screamed when the statues moved closer.

"Right now, they're the things that want you dead, so do as I say and don't blink!" I heard the door open behind me as a hand grabbed my own. "Run!"

I turned and did as the voice told me to. Our hands stayed clasped together as we sprinted off down the street. I could barely keep up with his long strides, and my shoulder wrenched in protest against his strong grip on my hand.

The man dragging me along wore a long tan coat and converse. He had a wild mane of hair and sideburns, and that's when I placed him.

"Hold on, you're—"

He turned to look at me with cold eyes. "Yes I am, so do as I say and keep running!"

We didn't stop until we had made it all the way to the park. My dad slowed his run as soon as we hit the grass, and pulled me over to a nearby bench.

I sat down gratefully, but looked up at him with wary eyes. "So where's Mum?"

He grumbled, and sat down beside me. He turned to me then, and gripped my shoulders tightly. "What were you thinking? You could've been killed! You're just lucky Jenny called me and not Mum, or she'd be having your hide right now."

I flinched away from him. "Don't see how she could. Not like either of you are around much to parent me anyway. Why start now?"

My father's angry persona abruptly shifted. His shoulders slumped and his expression filled with sadness. "Mara, you don't know how much we wish we could."

"So why don't you?" I countered. "Why did you both give Jenny and me up? What could be so dangerous that we're not safer with our parents?"

He swallowed, and placed his fingers along my temples. "Let me show you."

Despite my reservations, I closed my eyes, and let my mind open to him. I wanted to cry out when his protective presence filled a void I'd never even noticed I had. He wiped a tear off of my cheek with his thumb, and then the images started.

We sat in silence as the scenes played out behind my eyelids.

I opened my eyes when our minds pulled apart. He cupped my face in his hands. "Do you understand?"

I nodded, and reached out for him. Dad wrapped me up in his arms tightly, and kissed the top of my head.

"I'm sorry," I whimpered. "I had no idea."

"I know," he murmured, and rocked us gently as I sobbed into his coat. We only pulled apart once I'd begun to calm down. Dad looked at me sadly. "You're so brilliant, Mara. And you're mother and I love you so much, but we just can't be here."

I nodded. "I understand now."

Dad bit his lip. "So you understand why you'll have to forget."

I swallowed, and curled my fingers into his suit. "Just one question first. Have we ever done this before? Have I ever forgotten all of this before?"

He stared at me sadly. "No."

I chose to believe the lie, and let him walk me home.

POV: Rose

Date: July 23, 2010

The Doctor had been acting strangely around me ever since the day he'd scanned me in the TARDIS. I kept trying to find an opportunity to sneak back to the ship and check the results he'd looked at, but he always found a way to intercept me.

"Where you off to?"

I never looked up from my magazine, but I had seen him trying to sneak off.

He jumped. "Oh, just the TARDIS. She needs a little repair work done tonight. Might take all night, so don't wait up for me."

I bit my lip, and looked up from my distraction. "You've been saying that a lot lately."

The Doctor shifted on his feet, and reached up to tug on his ear as his eyes shifted everywhere but to me. "Why don't you and Jenny go into town today? Have a nice lunch or go see a movie? Go do whatever it is mother and daughters...do. I'll see you in the morning probably." He came over and leaned down to give me a kiss.

I was taken a bit by surprise when he kissed me harder than I expected him to. The slight edge to the way he pressed his lips to mine left an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I love you, Rose. I love all of my girls. Remember that," the Doctor said as he pulled away.

I blinked. "Of course I will. I love you, too." I reached up to caress his cheek as I tried to understand the look in his eyes. Before I could get a read on him, however, he pulled himself away and half ran out of the door. I stayed still and stared at the space where he'd just been. I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my heart that he'd been saying goodbye. That was ridiculous. He wasn't going anywhere.

I shook away my fears. Besides; I tried to tell myself, even if he wanted to, the Doctor couldn't leave. The Angels would find us if he did, and he would never leave me or our girls in danger that way.

I heard Jenny come out of her room. "Well that was…odd."

"That's the Doctor," I said with a huff, and pushed myself up from the couch. "C'mon. He did actually have a good idea. We should go do something fun."

She smiled, and grabbed the car keys. "I'll drive."

Jenny and I bought some Fish N' Chips before she drove us out to a popular vista point not too far away from our house. It was one of those rare sunny days, where the water was almost flat and you could see all the way out to where it met the sky. Those were my favorite days, but I couldn't find it within myself to enjoy the view today. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong.

My little girl gave me a warm nudge, and I smiled as I reached down to pat my stomach absently.

"So, what's been up with Dad lately?" Jenny asked in between bites.

I snorted. "You're the telepath. You tell me."

My daughter sucked in her cheeks. "He blocked me. I felt…something. It was when he took you in for a scan on the TARDIS. But since then he's been keeping me shut out. He still lets Mara in, but she isn't quite developed enough to tell me what's going on."

I sighed heavily. "Well. He's the Doctor. And I s'pose he'll do what he always does. He'll wait until he's ready to tell us what's on his mind."

Jenny nodded. "I guess—" She froze.

I felt Mara squirm anxiously, and Jenny's eyes went wide. "What is it?" I grabbed her arm. "Jenny, tell me. What's wrong?"

She quickly turned the key in the ignition, threw the car in reverse, and spun us around. "Dad's started up the TARDIS. He's leaving."

"What?" I screeched.

Jenny concentrated solely on driving. She ignored the people who honked at us as we sped down the road, and pressed down even farther on the gas pedal. I clung to the dashboard with white knuckles. My heart pounded as we got closer and closer to the TARDIS. He couldn't leave me, he'd promised. He loved us. All three of us. He'd said as much. How could he leave?

Jenny stopped the car a few feet from where the TARDIS was dematerializing, and I threw myself out of the vehicle as quickly as I could manage.

"Doctor!" I shouted. "Doctor, you better get your arse back out here right now! You stupid alien! Come back!" My voice broke, and I brought a hand up to my mouth to keep back the tears.

I felt Jenny's hand on my arm, and spun around to find her in tears as well. "He's gone, Mum. He cut me off completely. He left us."

I stared at her for a moment in shock. He couldn't be gone. He just couldn't. He'd promised me. "No. No he'll be right back." I blinked back the tears that were beginning to form, and fought against the memories that were threatening to pull me under. "He's coming back. He's coming back. If we wait, he'll be here."

My daughter swallowed, and pulled me into her arms. "Okay, Mum. We'll wait."