The Doctor opened one of the many doors in one of the many hallways on TARDIS. The old girl had nudged at him, sending him there. It was an old soda fountain, with Kathryn sitting at the counter and working on what looked to be her third chocolate malted. She continued staring at the half-empty glass as the Doctor sat on the stool next to her.

"You okay?" he asked, feeling obligated.

She smiled weakly at him. "Yeah, I'm good."

The Doctor knew what that meant, but he felt like he ought to say something more anyway. "I'm sorry about—"

"No, you're not," Kathryn cut him off, smiling without humor as she played with the straw. "You were an out of place, watered down version of yourself, trapped in a world you had no role in. You didn't fight against getting out, and you were only fooled as long as you were because of Genora's determination. You aren't sorry one bit." She said it without malice.

"Were you really like that? As a human?"

"I didn't faint that often, if that's what you mean." The Doctor smiled at the dry remark. "I was older in there, and I didn't wear dress-pants quite that often, and hardly ever flats, but essentially yes. That was her. Imaginative, introverted, always with a story brewing, slow to trust. That's probably what she's actually like in college. I can see Genora doing all that. That was her plan anyway." Kathryn drank some of the malted.

"Ever looked her up?"

"Nah. No point to it. No right to it."

She offered nothing else so the Doctor looked for another question. Usually he left this sort of emotional thing alone, but Kathryn was never this depressed about anything. She was an angry depressed sometimes, but never looked as though she'd had the life drained out of her. Maybe she had.

"And your family? Is that who they were?"

"You mean Genora's family. The O'Conner family." Kathryn seemed to get stuck on the next sentence, but she pushed it out anyway. "They're not my family."

"Right. Them."

"No. Things were off. There wasn't really a river nearby. Geoffrey never went nuts over things I baked or cooked. They never had a house like that. Genora never had a friend named Lula. On the infrequent occasions that she doodled it was abstract shapes. Mrs. O'Conner wasn't a stay-at-home mom. There were always dogs. Mr. O'Conner wore glasses. There was no lemon tree. My friend Buck wasn't there." Kathryn poked at the malted again. "There were changes."

Kathryn sighed and looked at him. "You were right; I changed the world Doctor. I tweaked it, tried to shape it and soften it. Not sure why I took out the pets, but then again I was working on making my current life and Genora's life fit together. But I'm not her. I'm just the Jahra clone that lived as her for a while before finding out the truth of what I am. Genora and Kathryn live separately; TARDIS isn't part of Earth. That's really why I hated you at first, or your copy; Genora would have never gone for this life. Any travel would have been done for the sole sake of her books. She wanted nothing more than to go back to Texas, write books, marry her friend Buck, and maybe have children. That's all."

"You've done fairly well here."

"I had to Doctor; I have no other choice." Kathryn sighed again. "No. She did have one thing right; you're a lonely old man, and Kathryn is just a young girl with nothing more to do than to care for the lonely old man."

"Well." The Doctor made a face. "I didn't think the travel was that bad."

Kathryn smiled, laughed a little. "Yeah. Yeah, the travel is good. Fantastic really. I do like the travel." She swallowed and the smile faded. The Doctor didn't say anything for a minute.

"Did you get your goodbyes at least?"

Kathryn shrugged. "I said them, but even as I did it they didn't mean anything. One thing different about my psychiatric closure? It's not mine to have, and it wasn't real. None of it was. They were useless words to a warped picture of a family that was never mine, which I then destroyed. The O'Conners never heard them, and they never will."

"There had to be something that was real," the Doctor protested, more for Kathryn than for him. "Otherwise you wouldn't have fought so hard."

"Genora fought to keep it. Kathryn knew better."

"Kathryn is a cynic that needs to answer my question."

Kathryn grudgingly nodded. "Mrs. O'Conner really did like to garden, especially the irises. And her hair and smile were correct. Mr. O'Conner's laugh was correct, and he teased Genora knowing full well she'd tease back. That was correct. There was no Lula, but all of Genora's friends were Hispanic. Genora constantly writing was correct; I'd forgotten how good it felt to create and express things that way. Wonder why I stopped." Kathryn smiled, blinking against suddenly moist eyes. "And Geoffrey really did have that absolutely ridiculous grin, the one that showed all his teeth? Never failed to get Genora smiling."

"Were you really that close to him?"

"Yes. We were close. They are close," Kathryn corrected herself. She drank more of the malted. She looked at the Doctor.

"I'm sorry for pulling you in. You were probably on Gallifrey or something equally wonderful for you. You really didn't belong in her world, and I don't know how or why I pulled you in."

The Doctor shrugged carelessly. "Oh, no harm done. Truth is, it was rather interesting seeing what you used to be. Can't say I don't prefer the current you, but it was certainly new."

"Yeah…about some of the stuff I wrote and said?" Kathryn flushed a light purple. "It was an older Genora's interpretation of Kathryn's life. You know, the impossible hero bits and such? We can just…forget those parts."

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Same with that soul-baring conversation by the river."

"What conversation?"

Kathryn smiled lightly.

The Doctor nodded once. "Alright then." He stood. "Anywhere you want to see next?"

"Nowhere special." Kathryn tapped her glass. "I'll just finish this and be out."

The Doctor looked at her gently. "You sure you're alright?"

"Of course I'm alright!" Kathryn exclaimed, her voice a shade too bright. "I'm Kathryn Trouble Moore; I'm always alright."

"Okay."

The Doctor was at the door when his sharp ears caught Kathryn's next words. He was certain she hadn't meant him to hear, but Gallifreian ears were really good.

"Kathryn Trouble Moore," she murmured. "The test-tube grown, people-killing, encyclopedic freak. No emotions. Always alright."

"Hey."

Kathryn looked up at him, surprised the Doctor was still there. He looked at her seriously. "It's Kathryn Moore, Dragonfly Girl. Yeah?"

Kathryn's mouth twitched. "Okay."

"I mean it Kathryn; all that stuff I said in there. It wasn't just to get you out. Well it was, but it was all true."

The smile formed, even if it didn't show teeth. "I'll be with you soon."

Kathryn turned back to the malted as the door shut behind the Doctor. She stared down at the glass, playing with the straw again.

"Genora Alexis O'Conner, Kathryn Trouble Moore, and then a third," Kathryn mused. Her mouth twisted with dark humor. "I wonder who I'm going to be next."

She sat very still, almost as if listening. Finally she spoke one word, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"Scorch."

Kathryn's whole body flinched and she shook her head, worrying at her top lip. "Dragonfly on fire…they can't last very long that way can they?" Tipping the glass to get the last bits of the chocolate drink, Kathryn stood, walking for the door. "Eh. I'll worry about it some other day."

The door closed behind her, leaving the faint outline of a hand on the countertop to go with the smell of scorched wood and melted plastic.

End of "Dreams Of Life".

Next on the list is "Stuff of Legends." Gosh my new one makes more sense. I've been debating the rewrite of "One Shot". If anyone actually reads my stuff (right) and you want to see it remade, or think it should be, send me a note via Private Messaging.