Complications

By The Plot Thinens

Chapter 21 – Abandoned hope and a long way from home

In the palace of Versailles the Doctor looked up at the night sky through the window of Madame de Pompadour's sitting room lost in regretful thoughts as he stared in the direction of stars that perhaps Rose might thousands of years in the future be looking at. He shook around the liquid in his glass as he heard Reinette approach with a similar glass. The king had held a toast to the monster machines' defeat in the Time Lord's honor, but the Doctor did not feel like celebrating. All he had energy for it seemed was to make sure his last companion, Arthur would be well taken care of, never whipped and fed lots of apples till the day he died. Wanting the Doctor to have a quiet place to rest as much as she wanted to be alone with him, Reinette begged the King's pardon and led the Doctor back to her chambers. The King was no fool and could see that the Doctor looked heart sick and allowed the dismissal and privacy. It was the least he could do for the Doctor's services.

"You know all their names, don't you? I saw that in your mind. The name of every star." Stated Reinette as she looked at her mournful angel.

"What's in a name? Names are just titles. Titles don't tell you anything." Remarked the Doctor. King. Time Lord, Lady, they were all just things to make someone feel big and important, but they did not speak a word about the person's soul. For that you had to get to know them.

"Like the Doctor." Said Reinette in a teasing voice to hopefully raise his spirits. It seemed to work or he was at least kind enough to humor her and in a voice equally as teasing

"Like Madame de Pompadour." He then took a slip from his glass very much liking how the liquid was calming his sense when he ordered his body not to metabolize it.

"I have often wished to see those stars a little closer. Just as you have, I think." Remarked Reinette as she gazed up at the shiny lights in the sky.

"From time to time." Stated the Doctor as he pondered over the many times he had been stranded, especially as his third form. Back then he had thought that he had been trapped the most and missing out on the most. How young he was then as he thought of what he now had left behind. Reinette's loved for the Doctor had only increased tenfold with every time she laid eyes on him and now that she could turn around and find him still there it was all she could do not to tenderly caress and kiss him and hope that somehow she could ease his pain.

"In saving me, you trapped yourself. Did you know that would happen?" Question Reinette of the man who was her lifelong love.

"Mmm. Pretty much. It's funny. I kept trying to do the right thing, well the right thing for me anyway. Got what I was dragging my feet on…Git me. But…It's not the way I wanted it to happen. The price for what I've done… Maybe I can still get back to them, …might take a while …If I even knew where they were... But I knew I'd be trapping myself. I knew it." Rambled the Doctor in tones that ranged from trying to sound pulled together, to guilty, to just sad.

"Yet, still you came." Noted Reinette, very grateful and humbled by his sacrifice.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I? Catch me doing that again. Fixed points, Reinette. History needs you. And you do grow on a person once introduced." Smiled the Doctor when he probably had rather cried. He just took another sip of his wine. He was stuck here.

"There were many doors between my world and yours. Can you not use one of the others?" Suggested Reinette, not being able to stand seeing her love so sad and trapped. Oh how the Doctor had thought of that, but it was no use.

"When the mirror broke, the shock would have severed all the links with the ship. There'll be a few more broken mirrors and torn tapestries around here, I'm afraid, wherever there was a time window. I'll, I'll pay for any damage." Explained the Doctor who then looked off into the distance as an odd thought dawned on him.

"Er, that's a thought, I'm going to need money. I was always a bit vague about money. Where do you get money?" Questioned the Doctor, his impressive presence reduced to that of a lost child. Reinette smiled at her protector from all these years that now needed her protecting. If he was to be stuck here then she would see to it with every bit of pull she had that he would be cared for and kept in the best comfort possible.

"So, here you are, my lonely angel, stuck on the slow path with me." Smiled Reinette to her love.

"Yep, the slow path. Here's to the slow path." Smiled the Doctor. There was nothing he could do for the moment so the two raised their glasses in a toast. If he was to be stuck here then he could at least count the blessings that he had preserved the timelines and that he had someone like Reinette to share the slow path with. Well for a little while, what he was going to do with the rest of his time he did not know. Perhaps he could try catching a ride with one of his former selves if he could do it without hurting the timelines, but it would be at least a century before he would have that opportunity and that would require a lot of planning to get back to Rose, something he normally wasn't very good at.

"It's a pity. I think I would've enjoyed the slow path." Mused Reinette as she looked the Doctor up and down with a subtle eye. The Doctor's explanation about the time windows had given her an idea for them both to get what they wanted.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere." Smiled the Doctor just slightly, he was resigned to the slow path ahead for him with Reinette.

"Oh, aren't you? Take my hand." She ordered in a voice that was a little worked up.

The Doctor followed Reinette hand in hand. It was only when he realized that she was taking him to her bedroom that he started getting nervous. He was flattered but it was much too soon if ever for something like that. Then he realized that she was looking past the large bed with perfumed flower petals resting on it.

"It's not a copy, it's the original. I had it moved here and was exact in every detail." Explained Reinette as the Doctor's eyes locked on the familiar fireplace. Reminiscing on the old thing.

"The fireplace. The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?" Smirked the Doctor as he looked over the object that had started them both on this adventure.

"Many years ago, in the hope that a door once opened, may someday open again. One never quite knows when one needs one's Doctor. It appears undamaged. Do you think it will still work?" Questioned Reinette, hoping that she had been correct in her assumption. Once he had his access to his world and his ship called TARDIS then her angel would be happy again.

"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it, which means it was offline when the mirror broke. That's what saved it. But the link is basically physical, and it's still physically here. Which might just mean, if I'm lucky. If I'm very, very, very, very, very, very lucky." Said the Doctor as he tapped around the fireplace and finally tapped the right place on the mantel. The Doctor let out a cheer and Reinette amused at his returned jovial mood asked what he had found.

"Loose connection." The Doctor then pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it to fix the connection.

"Need to get a man in." He smirked as he repeated what he had said to Reinette all those years ago. He then gave the mantel a thump.

"Wish me luck!" Smirked the Doctor but then to his surprise Reinette would not. That's when he realized Reinette's fear. The fireplace was taking him away again and success might mean that she might not see him for who knew how long. Or maybe Reinette had needed to share this possible escape for the Doctor before she could without guilt have her slow path with him. Reinette had shared so much with the Doctor and he unknowingly with her. She would not hold something back from him.

The Mantel was done turning and the Doctor saw that it had indeed worked and he was back on the spaceship! Not wanting Reinette to worry, he quickly leaned down and looked into the fireplace to ask Reinette on the other side,

"Madame de Pompadour! Still want to see those stars?" The Doctor was so overjoyed that he couldn't hold still in fact he needed more than anything to move. Always moving always on to the next adventure that without thinking about he had offered the trip of a life time to Reinette.

"More than anything." She smiled at her angel.

"Give me two minutes. Pack a bag." He smiled to the lovely woman who would be running away with him from history.

"Am I going somewhere?" She asked confused, to which the Doctor grinned,

"Go to the window. Pick a star, any star." The Doctor ran off to the next room toward the TARDIS and Reinette ran off to wait.

The Doctor was elated. He would see Rose again and hell he was even happy that he'd see Mickey. He looked about but much to his surprise Rose and Mickey were nowhere to be found. For a brief moment of fear he worried that the clockwork Androids had gone after them while he was gone, but he had counted them all in the ballroom. All of them were there and broken on the floor. All the Doctor could see was the TARDIS. Then he thought that they might be in there. A quick check in on his slight connection with his child's mind confirmed his suspicions and they were indeed in the TARDIS. He'd just go back and grab Reinette for the trip and surprise them. Rose and Mickey from what he had seen seemed to like her and he was sure that one extra passenger for a trip across the stars would not be a bother on his bigger on the inside ship. Who wouldn't enjoy traveling with such a wonderful and intelligent woman? He turned back to the fireplace and crouched down to find his lovely French girl.

"Reinette? You there, Reinette?" Called out the Doctor, but found that no one was to be seen.

It was dark in the Palace of Versailles and raining. An eerie mood seemed to have a hold on the place and the Doctor cautiously made his way through the rooms.

"Reinette? Oh, hello." Called out the Doctor for his French admirer only to be greeted by the King of France.

"You just missed her. She'll be in Paris by six." Said the King of France mournfully.

"Ah." Stated the Doctor, slightly annoyed by this bad timing. If he could get a hold of the date than maybe it would be faster just to meet up with her with the TARDIS.

"Good Lord. She was right. She said you never looked a day older. So many years since I saw you last, but not a day of it on your face." Noted King Louis as he took a sealed letter from a drawer.

"She spoke of you many times. Often wished you'd visit again. You know how women are." The King declared as he handed the Doctor the letter.

'People regardless of their gender want to see friends and loved ones long absent,' thought the Doctor as he took the letter confused. If she had just left to go out why did the King seem so melancholy. Did Reinette have him that wrapped around her finger? There was the sound of a horse and the crack of a whip.

"There she goes." Announced the king as a hearse was seen out the window going down the driveway in the pouring rain. The Doctor was devastated, poor Reinette. She had died without him fulfilling his promise to take her to see the stars.

"Leaving Versailles for the last time. Only forty three when she died. Too young. Too young. Illness took her in the end. She always did work too hard." Mourned the King who then put his attention to the envelope in the Doctor's hands.

"What does she say?" The Doctor watched the hearse for a moment more before looking at the envelope in his hand and then put the unopened letter inside his jacket. The King seeing that that had been too personal a request from the Lord of Time.

"Of course. Quite right." Remarked the King. The Doctor then walked back to the fireplace as if he were dragging the weight of that hearse behind him. He leaned up against the mantel, spun sadly back into his world, and unsealed the letter. The words were sad and desperate for their unlikely meeting up again. But still they were hopeful as she had seen the world in his head. So how sad it did make it that with such hope and so many things possible that her hope had been all for nothing? She had died and that was that.

Warily the Doctor walked up to his TARDIS he was conflicted, he yearned for solitude to mourn but at the same time he needed to see Rose. He was a mess of anger, guilt, sadness, and sorrow for many reasons. He opened the TARDIS door, not bothering to take off his coat as he walked up to the console and began to close down the time windows so that they would never cause trouble again. The noise in the console room had with the aid of the TARDIS carried to Rose and Mickey who had gone to investigate who else was in the TARDIS. At the sight of the Doctor moving about the console, Mickey and Rose felt relief that they would not be stranded.

"You've been gone five bloody hours! I thought you said you couldn't come back! How did you get back?" asked Mickey first in elation that he was no longer stuck on the space ship. The Doctor, however was still busily working the dematerialization process and not looking up he answered very dismissively,

"Oh almost didn't, but got lucky. Reinette, thought of something clever. Managed to get back. What's the matter, Mickey? Not happy to see me?" The Doctor then finished pulling a stiff lever and they were safely in the vortex. The Time Lord wanted to do his best to hide his loss from Mickey the Idiot. He had been so wrapped up in his grief and trying to dematerialize the TARDIS that he had not looked over to see that Rose was quietly standing next to Mickey. But as soon as the Doctor had brought his somewhat sad looking eyes up and saw the look on Rose's face, he knew that he had made a terrible mistake by saying that. He had broken her heart and those words he'd said earlier had not helped.

Author's Notes:

Sorry guys, but making this Moffat story work in my AU universe took a lot of stuff…time..something to do it right…I hope.