"You were kidnapped!"
"No! No, nothing like that!"
"Eliza I was sick with worry. I almost called the police."
"I know Lewis, I'm sorry. There wasn't any signal to call you earlier. Look, the Doctor and I found Sec."
There is a pause. We wait as Eliza uses the contactless phone in the Rover to call Lewis back in New York. They are still together, and this makes me incredibly happy, but pensive as well. I think of all the things I have missed, how much time has passed.
"Sec? But how? Where is he?"
"I'm right here." I lean into the interior of the car.
The Time Lord is talking to the two horses, making sure they are comfortable to be left by themselves.
"Oh..." I hope for jubilation, laughter. Neither are given. "Sec, you were there all along? It's..it's good to hear from you."
Eliza catches my eye, but as i look up at her she looks away.
"Good to hear from you too."
"You'll look after her?"
"Of course Lewis. But she doesn't need me to." I reply.
I think I hear Lewis sigh.
"I know. But, you know, you hardly...you're not the safest person to be around."
"With the Doctor here, I am the safest person in the world."
"Look; whatever you're doing, I'm trusting you to take Eliza back alive. This isn't her fight."
There isn't anything I can say to that.
"Okay. It was good to hear from you. Hope you've kept your hair trimmed."
I leave him to talk to his partner.
Eliza takes the wheel, and I, rattled from my near capture, opt to take the travel seat. The Time Lord will sit in the back.
We carry the three sleepers from the trunk and dump them in the front seats of the oil tanker.
"What happens if they come round?" Eliza asks.
"Well, they're shut in there, aren't they? They won't be able to escape too easily."
"But what if they don't? We don't want them to die."
She had a valid point, so I found a packet of crackers and left it on the dashboard just in case.
I navigated my casing into the back of the Rover, and now we are driving bumpily off-road, across the desert.
Eliza's unusual clothing choice does't match well with the new leathered interior of the vehicle. I wonder if the long skirt will interfere with the pedals, but she manages fine.
We travel in silence. It is a silence of me trying to think of something to say, to either of them, then deciding it's no good. It is a silence of Eliza concentrating, of the Time Lord's disapproval.
It frightens me to have so dangerous a being so close in such a tiny space.
"Do you recon they'll be alright?" Eliza asks, twenty minutes in.
"Who; the Soldiers?" The Time Lord sounds weary. He leans over our seats, not wearing a seatbelt. "Do we want them to be?"
"No; I meant the horses."
"Oh. They'll be fine. They have water and grass. Those blankets should keep off the chill."
"What about the Leech?"
I look round. The Doctor shrugs.
"Well, It should be fine too. You reset the witch circle, didn't you Sec?"
I shudder at the use of my own name.
"Scribe circle. And yes."
"Good."
We fall back into silence. This is broken by the Doctor explaining, a little patronisingly, that we should not lose our heads, that we do not know who these people are and that it would have been a lot easier to just hand over the Leech and be done with it. Eliza says she agrees, or she would have if I hadn't suddenly become part of the deal. The Doctor mutters something about karma and falls silent.
After ten minutes I glance back and see that he has fallen asleep. His mouth hangs open, and he looks at that moment incredibly old, very human, and very vulnerable. In the legends, it was told that the Doctor never slept. Some even dictated that he had no eyelids; but I never believed this.
I glance at Eliza.
We have begun to traverse over higher ground, and she is keeping a firm eye on the path ahead.
My happiness at seeing her again has ebbed a little. The strained conversation with Lewis did that. I am afraid of her, of what she thinks. It is as if I know that things can never return to the way they were before.
"...I'm sorry." I say at last. It comes out mumbled. Eliza raises her eyebrows.
"What are you sorry about?" She asks, apparently surprised.
"Well, about..."
"About what the Cult of Skaro did?" She lets out a quick laugh. "Because the murder and torture of thousands of people can be made up for by a quick apology in a car."
This hurts. Pain that is not of the flesh can linger for longer, burn in other ways. The Dalek side of me wants to become angry, but I stop it. I wish it were gone.
"...It's why you sent me away." I remind her. "And I did not want to believe that you'd forgiven me for it. I was right."
Eliza shakes her head. Her kinky fringe shakes.
"Sec, listen. I wasn't angry at you. I know you're sorry. I guess I did it because...because I'm angry at me."
I look round in surprise.
"At yourself? But why?"
"Look," Eliza speaks rapidly now. "You're vicious, you've done evil things, and I still stand by what I said about you looking like a scrotum. I'm sorry, but you do! And even though I know all of that, and tell it to myself; you were one of the best things that has ever happened to me."
I stay silent, unsure what to think. The vehicle shakes as it strikes a boulder. Eliza swears. Keeps looking forward.
"But you were hurt." I remind her.
"I could have been hurt anywhere. But if it hadn't been for you," she goes on, "I wouldn't have seen another planet. I would never have fallen in love with Lewis. I would never have gotten a job that I love and realised what I wanted to do with my life. Sec, you were an incredible friend to have. But...I thought...after all that you did, people would think that I was wrong to think so. I feel guilty about you. Lewis more so. He trusted you, but I don't think he knows how to handle it yet. Especially after hearing from you again."
The Doctor snores, punctuating the gap that follows.
"I'll never tell you that I forgive you. Never. That's not my job. But I feel honoured to know you."
My eye stings, and I try very hard to look out the window.
"I feel honoured to know you, too." My voice is shaky as I speak.
Eliza's smile is small, but warm.
"I hope that's enough." She replies. "Whatever happens now, we'll see what happens. You care about this girl. And I want to help you."
Crying has been described as weak. But it takes a lot of pain to do so, so I don't think that that can be true.