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Chapter 27.
"Here we are, trapped up in the amber of the moment. There is no why."
-Kurt Vonnegut
POV: Mara
Date: December 25, 2013
Clara looked up at us after she slammed the device Dad had given her into the console port. "Okay, what now?" She looked up at the time rotor. "Is that it? Are you doing a clever thing?"
I swallowed, and glanced at Jenny. "You could say that."
The TARDIS came to a stop, and Clara grinned. "Done." She ran for the doors. "Well come on!" she shouted when Jenny and I lingered behind.
I sighed. "I'll do it," I said, and followed her to the doors.
She paused after running a couple of steps out of the TARDIS. "No."
"I'm sorry, Clara," I said, and slammed the doors shut.
"Don't you dare! No, no!" she shouted.
Jenny had already started up the flight sequence by the time I joined her at the console. The TARDIS was shaking violently around us. "What's got her acting up?" I cried over the groaning engines.
My sister glanced at one of the monitors, and let out an exasperated sound. "Clara's clinging on to the doors!"
I had to laugh as I inputted the right sequence to compensate for Clara. "You'd think Dad would know better by now."
Jenny laughed with me. "I doubt he'll ever learn."
"Hang on, Clara!" I called out towards the doors. "It's going to be a bumpy one!"
"Ha!" Jenny shouted. "Allons-y!"
I grinned. "Geronimo!"
POV: Rose
Date: December 25
I had gasped when I felt the TARDIS reenter the vortex with an external passenger. She was expending a great amount of energy to keep Clara safe, and that energy had hit me like a brick wall.
"What is it?"
I had looked up to see the Doctor descending the staircase to rejoin me. I swallowed. "I think Mara and Jen are going to be a little late."
He had bounded the last couple of steps down the stairs. "Why? What's wrong?"
I had shaken my head. "They're fine. Clara's the one causing the trouble." I'd snorted at that. "It seems as though you underestimated her determination to be here with you. She's clinging to the side of the TARDIS. It may take the old girl a while to get back here."
The Doctor had swallowed then. "You mean…I'm stuck here? And Mara and Jen? I may not see them again?"
I'd narrowed my eyes at him. "What do you mean you might not see them again?"
He'd sighed, and looked down at his feet for a moment before bringing his eyes back up to mine. "Rose, you know why."
I had felt a cold weight settle within me then. Because I had known why—I just hadn't wanted to admit it. The Doctor was dying. This body was his last.
I had nodded then. "I do."
Time seemed to pass all at once after that. The Doctor, ever faithful to his promises, stayed true to the one he had given the people of Christmas. Day and night he fought whatever enemy tried to ransack the town. I helped where I could, but with the TARDIS so far away—and my box in the ship—there was only so much power I could draw on. Even with the added support of my family's network, I could only do so much.
But the Doctor and I became more than just defenders of the small town. After a year or so, he took up repair work, and I worked as a schoolteacher. It felt good to put the knowledge I had stuffed in my mind to use.
Every now and then I would test how close the TARDIS was by trying to make myself corporeal. It rarely worked, but every once in a while I would be able to brush my fingers against something, or feel air enter my lungs. The Doctor and I also worked on reestablishing our bond. Even with a lack of physical touch, we managed to develop a low-range telepathic field, and to firmly reestablish our empathic bond. And for a while, these small victories were enough to give us hope.
The hardest thing about this new life was watching the Doctor age.
I had always known his bodies would age, of course. It would take longer than a human's body would, but eventually, all organisms give out. And it would have been easier had I not known this was his final body, but I did. And the thought of his life ending, while mine had no foreseeable end, hurt more than I cared to admit.
Whenever these thoughts passed through my head, I always remembered something the Doctor himself had once told me. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you—
I could finish the end of that sentence for myself.
But life wasn't all bad here. The townspeople were, truly, like one large family. And they happily invited the Doctor and I into that family. When our days and nights weren't filled with fighting off all the monsters in the universe, the two of us were participating in town gatherings and celebrations.
It was during one of these celebrations that I felt a familiar song resonate in my consciousness.
I gasped, and turned to the Doctor. "She's here."
The Doctor glanced up from the boy he was talking to. "I hear her."
The boy—Barnable's—eyes widened. "What is it? What's that noise?"
The Doctor picked up his cane as the TARDIS started to materialize. "Three hundred years? You lot couldn't make her go any faster than that? I would have understood if she hadn't had any pilots, but honestly!"
I swallowed down the bitterness in his voice and attempted to control my irritation that he would speak to our daughters that way. "Doctor, relax."
His irritation subsided into guilt. "Sorry. Guess I'm starting to act my age, ay?"
"What's that?" Barnable asked, and pointed to the TARDIS.
"It's my ship," the Doctor explained as he continued to hobble towards the old girl.
"Your what?"
The Doctor let out a loud breath. "It's my TARDIS. That's how I got here in the first place."
Barnable looked up at me. "Does that mean you're leaving?"
I granted the boy a small smile. "We'll see."
It was only now that I noticed that there was someone clinging to the outside doors of the TARDIS. I couldn't hold back my chuckle when I recognized the figure. The Doctor should know better than to send away his companions by now.
The Doctor reached out and jabbed Clara with his cane as the doors of the TARDIS opened. Mara and Jenny came bounding out—only to stop in their tracks at the sight of their father.
"What are you doing here?" the Doctor shouted at Clara.
She let out a shaky breath. "I was in space." Her eyes were stuck open wide and her posture was rigid.
Jenny crossed her arms. "Don't you know better than to send people away by now?"
The Doctor jabbed a finger in Clara's direction. "You should be at home!"
"You tricked me!" she cried, and I could see tears in her eyes.
"I saved you!" the Doctor countered.
"You didn't even say goodbye!" she shot back.
I felt the Doctor's small flare of guilt over that. "I'm furious with you!"
"Well, I am not even talking to you!" Clara shrieked.
They glared at each other for a moment before breaking into laughter. "C'mere," the Doctor said, and pulled her into a hug.
I smiled. "There's my Doctor."
I watched as the Doctor reunited with Jenny and Mara before all four of them walked back towards the town gathering.
"Are those your girls, Mrs. Tyler?" one of the women behind me asked.
I nodded. "Jen and Mara, yeah."
"They're lovely," she said.
I glanced over my shoulder to see who was talking. It was Esther, one of the younger nurses who worked in the clinic in town. I smiled at her. "Thank you."
"Now then," Mara said, "what's been going on here while we've all been away?"
The Doctor and I shared a look. "Why don't I take you lot into the Tower while the Doctor checks on his ship?"
"Okay," Clara said, and the Doctor headed for the TARDIS while I led the other three towards the Tower.
"Wow," Jenny said quietly.
I glanced around. The walls and benches were filled with children's drawings and various bits of toys the Doctor was working on. I smiled softly. "Your Dad had to keep himself busy somehow when the monsters were taking a break."
Clara grinned. "Oh, Doctor. Fixing toys and fighting monsters."
Mara chuckled. "I would expect nothing less."
"The turkey isn't done yet!" the Doctor shouted as he entered the Tower.
"What turkey?" Jenny asked.
"Mine," Clara said. "It didn't like my oven so I asked your parents if I could do some cookin' in the TARDIS engines."
Mara raised her eyebrows. "And it isn't done yet? Blimey, how long do you think it'll take?"
He shrugged. "Looks like another hour or so."
"Is it still asking the question?" Clara asked with her eyes fixed on the crack in the wall.
The Doctor and I shared another look. He sighed heavily. "Oh, never stops." He grabbed Clara by the wrist then. "Come, all of you. Come upstairs. It's almost time."
"What for?" Clara asked.
"Dawn," I said. "This planet's daytime only lasts for a few minutes."
"You don't want to miss it," the Doctor said as he tugged Clara up the stairs.
Mara and Jenny both looked over at me. "How are you both, really?"
I sucked in my lower lip, but offered them both a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about us. Your Dad and I will always be fine, no matter what."
"Jenny! Grab Handles!" the Doctor shouted.
"Okay!" Jenny shouted back, and looked around the room. "Where's Handles?"
I pointed towards a workbench close to the door. She grabbed the Cyberman head before the three of us headed up the stairs.
Jenny handed Handles off to the Doctor as we stepped onto the roof. The Doctor had started a small fire and had already gathered blankets to distribute.
I sat beside him as we all settled in. He glanced at me, and offered his hand. I closed my eyes to concentrate for a moment before reaching out to take it.
We both let out a small breath as our hands intertwined. "You know, we're eventually going to have to tell them about your…condition," I said.
He pulled in a deep breath. "I know. But let them be ignorant for just a little while longer. I can't tell them yet, Rose, it'll break my hearts."
I nodded, and used as much power as I could manage to squeeze his hand. "Okay."
