Chapter 10.
Antebellum.
Everything changed in the blink of an eye. It was like the confusing period after a war, when the soldiers realized they were no longer supposed to be fighting. It was coming back into the world after a devastating fever, feeling it break for the first time in what felt like eternity.
One moment he was standing in an empty forest, with everything fading around him, getting sucked into the oblivion of non-existence, and then he was on a residential street.
Suddenly the world seemed alright again.
The Doctor could feel the timeline settling into its normal groove, a record player needle gently bumping into place and continuing the same old song. His TARDIS was right in front of him, like he had simply stepped out of it and onto this very normal residential street, in the middle of a normal neighborhood, but it was so much more complicated than that.
Grace Shaw was gone.
She had succeeded in correcting the timeline by giving up her own future. She did it for the betterment of her species, and the survival of the universe. But it left a hollow spot in his heart. She was young, and spirited – what a life she could have had!
He tucked the stinging pain away and focused on the present. Rose was bound to be somewhere in this neighborhood. He hoped she was in the street, and not in someone's living room, or stuck in a wall. The Doctor swept the whole block, calling for her and keeping a careful eye out for a flash of blonde hair between the houses. He got a few funny looks but no one seemed to want to address his obvious insanity.
He caught sight of her on a dead end road, which backed up to a private academy. She was inspecting the sign like a proper detective, still wearing those hilarious shorts with the words across the bum, looking wholly out of place in this very prestigious neighborhood.
When she saw him, she gave him this lovely smile that just enveloped the pain, and chased it all away. She met him with a hug, wrapping him up tight, and laughed.
"What a day, huh?" He spoke nonchalantly, testing her mood. She could be a lot like her mother sometimes, feigning friendliness when she was really just waiting for him to get close enough to strangle. Of course he would never say that out loud.
Rose snorted. "Some date you are, ditching me like that."
"Well, if we're being honest, I think you had it better."
"I was trapped in a timeless forest! What were you doing all day?"
He had his answer worked out already, had it prepped and ready to deliver, but it never came. He stumbled on it, frowned, and cleared his throat, finding himself at a rare loss for words. "I… uh. I had a friend who died."
Was she his friend? It was hard to tell, after such a short relationship. She was an alien, and good at keeping secrets, and a little bit threatening, but a friend? She could have been.
Rose was very good at sympathy. Her eyebrows drew down and her eyes simmered. "Oh."
"She was at the center of it. She fixed it, but…"
"She never existed."
He nodded. "So you worked it all out, then?"
"I did. Well, we did. I was there with two guys, and a little baby. You can guess what happened to them." She hugged him again, a little reserved this time. "It never gets easier – losing people."
"I know."
Rose had no idea. She genuinely had no idea. But that wasn't her fault. She was nineteen. She had barely lived, barely lost. But when she drew away and looked at him, it seemed that, for the moment, she could understand what it felt like. She was such a caring person. She took his grief and shared it. The Doctor imagined, for a moment, that it had been her lost to the rippling timeline, and that thought was the worst of them all. Rose loved him. He knew that. But what he felt for her was much more complicated.
She insisted they were going to be together forever.
"Hey." Rose tapped his shoulder. "I think I know what would make us both feel better."
"What?"
"It has to do with tiny little coconut drinks."
He smiled. "Does it?"
"Yeah. I think thirty or forty should do it."
"Sounds about right."
The Doctor took her hand, guiding her back to the TARDIS and telling her what had happened in the other timeline. He told her about Grace, and her description came out as a 'frustrating hobbit of a girl.' She told her side as well, omitting a few things around the end, and the Doctor let her. He already knew what must have happened to her friends.
He stopped in the doorway, opening it for her, and lingering in the street. "I want to wander here for a bit, make sure everything came out alright. If you want to stay here, I understand."
"I'm going to change into my pajamas and eat a whole box of crawlers."
"Box of what?"
"Crawlers."
"What?"
"Crawlers."
"You mean those spider-donuts we got on Harson?"
"Yeah."
"They're not called that."
"What're they called, then?"
"I don't remember, but it's definitely not that. Crawlers."
Rose smiled. "I can call them what I please, I'm the one bringing about their untimely demise. Want me to save you some?"
"Nah. Don't feel like eating."
"Just feel like wandering?"
The Doctor nodded. It felt like he had failed today – failed to save so many lives. Something else she had said struck him. "You're going to the beach in your pajamas?"
"I was gonna change before we got there, but maybe I will. Probably promotes relaxation. You should try it." She thought on it, smiling, and then her face got a little darker, her voice a little reserved. "Doctor?"
"Yeah?"
"There was, um, something weird, where I was." She twisted her lips, stepping a little into the TARDIS, as if the timeline would rip her back out again. "When everything was gone, and it was just me, there was one thing with me. Horses. Wooden horses. Eleven of them."
The Doctor frowned. This information seemed random. It didn't raise any red flags. "Why do you think that was?"
"I dunno. I just… thought I should tell you. Go on, do your checking."
The Doctor started his wandering. He was in a colossal neighborhood so he took a sample as he went, making sure he saw the appropriate mail-bots and hovering cars parked up against expensive garage doors. It was all posh, completely different from the corrupted timeline, and rightly so. In this world the humans were in the midst of a war, and some of them, the richest and most privileged among them, had the honor of living in these types of neighborhoods. They were as isolated from reality as possible, right on the edge of a thriving metropolis, living life happily, oblivious to the suffering happening maybe only miles away. It was one of the staples of the human race – sweep it away and forget about it.
It was a bit deplorable, but correct for these humans. The timeline had been mended.
He walked until he saw a cemetery, and paused at the gates to read the dates on the closest headstones – no recent burials. Everything was cremated in this century. Somewhere out there lay the little boy that never should have survived. He was almost tempted to go and look for him, but he didn't even know his full name. He didn't even know if Grace had gone back and killed the boy, or simply told him to keep his head a bit lower down.
It was almost dusk when he thought he should return. He walked up and down several streets, searching for an excuse to linger.
He was about to give in and return to the TARDIS, but one of the names stood out to him.
Shaw.
He took a step toward it, hesitated, and then noticed that the front porch was occupied.
Grace was sitting in the swing.
She looked a little different from the last time he saw her. She was wearing a tank top and her arms were free of scars and tattoos. Her expression was a little softer, but her eyes were still that vivid green, intensely intelligent, and fixated on him.
Could it be wishful thinking, or was he really looking at this impossible girl? She should never had been born. If everything was back to normal, she should not exist.
But there she was, healthy and part of the posh neighborhood.
She got up and came to the edge of the porch, giving him a smile that stunted his thoughts.
"Goodnight, Doctor." Her voice was warm and familiar.
She turned and walked inside.
Both of his hearts skipped a beat. He smiled, elated, forgetting his caution. She was alive! But how could she be alive? She must have been adopted. Her father was not really her father. She must not have known. She must have gotten quite the shock when she woke up in this timeline.
But it was wrong.
No matter what, she should have forgotten her other life. She should not recognize him. How was that possible? Had the TARDIS shielded her from the reset?
Even though these things were critically important, and the weight of them rested on his shoulders, as always, he pushed them aside. He was too caught up in her to think at the moment. He had other responsibilities. Grace was safe, and in a good home, and he would return and figure everything out in due time. He had to know who she was.
He needed to unravel her mysteries.