Damian was content. It was a strange feeling for him, considering all that he's gone through for the past few days. He's faced death and betrayal, suffocated by an impossible responsibility to save the lives of millions, whose lives were at stake because of his own creation. His machine that he had spent most of his life developing was going to be destroyed, and yet he felt content.
Perhaps that feeling came from being able to spend time with the person sitting to his right. He was content because even in the face of all their troubles, he had the captain by his side. He glanced over towards Jane in admiration as she began setting up communications as he flew them into the atmosphere.
"Doctor?" she said aloud once the communications were up.
"Jane, hello! I've just gotten all of the missiles up and armed and I've set the tardis for our home destination." The Doctor's voice came over the intercom.
"Excellent, we are almost in a safe location," she affirmed as she glanced out the window as the ground began to fall further and further beneath them as they were raised into the air.
Damian flew them higher until he felt that they were far enough away and slowly began to turn them around, the small lab area thousands of feet below them. "Alright Doctor, we're getting front row seats for the explosion and we're now in a safe location," Damian said.
"Good, good," came the voice over the intercom. "Are you ready to save the universe?"
"Yes," both Damian and Jane said together.
"Wish me luck!" They listened as the sounds of buttons being pressed sounded over the intercom, before the Doctor's shouting drowned out the noise; "Geronimo!"
They watched out of the window of their shuttle as suddenly the ground far beneath them shook and the entire lab burst into a big mass of rolling fire and debris, fluorescent color shooting up into the air as well. The noise of the explosion rocketed up through the air, almost deafening even though they were well out of range. The noise over the intercom fizzled and went dead. The Time Gate was destroyed. None of the chaos that they experienced on the ship would ever occur. All of the crew members that the captain lost would still be alive, and so would all of the others who had been affected all throughout the universe.
Damian wasn't sure what he was going to do next. He no longer had the Time Gate, which had been his main focus for most of his adult life. He didn't have a task at hand anymore, and yet, he felt content. He looked at the woman by his side. "Now what?"
She grinned at him, her expression hopeful and her eyes bright. He might not have the Time Gate anymore, but now he had something much better.
...
- Three Weeks Later -
Jane peered at her screens and looked for an interesting case. She was in the center of her place on the bridge, and through her transparent screens were rows of her crew members wearing their red shirts. She found one that caught her eye, it had to do with an ancient artifact being stolen.
Since the explosion of the Time Gate, she had made her way back to her ship and had regained her place as captain. Apparently, after going back in time, on the day she arrived her past self had just disappeared. When she had entered the ship all of her crew members were still there, including the ones that she had witnessed die in her alternate timeline. Triss had been a little bit upset that she had suddenly disappeared, and had reprimanded her accordingly once she arrived. However, the Tresshiss was very excited to learn that she had been promoted. After the sudden disappearance of the Admiral, another person had been promoted and there had been an opening in the Star Fleet for a Captain as the previous captain had been promoted to Admiral. After sending in a few good words, Jane had made sure that Triss would be the one to fill the Captain's shoes. Though she liked her second in command, the fact that Triss had killed her still made her feel uneasy. Besides, she had somebody in mind to fill her shoes, and she knew that it would probably be best if Damian wouldn't have to work with someone he had viciously killed in another timeline.
She smiled as she moved her screen over to the right, catching the attention of her second in command. He glanced over at her inquisitively, his colorful eyes swimming between blue, green and gold. "A new case?" his deep voice rumbled.
Jane had quickly fallen back into her original pattern of soaring through the universe acting as a police force for the Star Fleet, and doing odd jobs on the side when they intrigued her. Anything from catching robbers to solving murders, from spaceships to small planets. Constantly moving, always searching for ways that she could help when there seemed to be no hope.
"A piano?" Damian said, his baritone voice sounding impressed. His hand reached out to the screen to enlarge it as he read the case. His black hair was in stylish curls across his pale forehead and his lips pursed as he read. He was wearing a captains uniform, and though he was only second in command, none of her crew or even any of her superiors objected. They were co-captains, and were regarded as such. "I thought that they didn't exist anymore."
"They're extremely rare and held as relics, normally in museums and such. This one has been stolen, and I'm thinking that someone on this freight carrier that passed through the star system a few days ago is the culprit." She pulled up another screen to show him the carrier and then began to give him more details of the case.
Once she was finished explaining he smiled at her. "You up for a reconnaissance mission to rescue a stolen piano?" He asked, his eyes shining gleefully.
"I thought you'd never ask."
...
Jane crept down the long hallway on the freight container, her gun held at the ready, set to stun. She glanced to the right to look at Damian, who was silently walking beside her, his gun also held out in front of them. Getting aboard the ship had been surprisingly easy; they had taken a small shuttle and had overridden the controls of the freight container, leaving no trace as they opened the hangar doors and slid their innocuous shuttle inside. Once inside they sneaked through the ship, disabling cameras they passed in order to look for the piano without being noticed.
They reached the end of the hallway and Jane peered into the room. The sight before her was spellbinding. The room was completely empty, besides a lone grand piano that stood proudly in the center of the room. The instrument was ancient, its keys corroded and fading, the wood lacking luster without any shine. But it was beautiful. Jane stood and reverently strode into the room, her eyes greedily taking up the sight before her.
"The piano," Damian sighed, looking with respect at the large instrument, a reminiscent of a bygone era.
"It's been so long since I've played one of these," Jane said remorsefully, sliding her fingers silently over the keys, not pressing down on any of them.
Damian glanced at her in shock. She knew that he was still wrapping his head around the fact that she was immortal, but he seemed content with the knowledge. She knew that one day she would outlive him, but as long as he was alive she was going to spend every moment with him and love him.
"You should probably let the ship know that you found your piano," he said, not drawing attention to the fact that she was old enough to have played the instrument when they hadn't been in use for centuries.
She held up her wrist to her mouth and spoke into her silver bracelet that radioed back to her ship. She informed her crew in the control room that they had found the piano and ordered them to follow after freight carrier she and Damian were currently on, and also commanded them to send a message to the carrier that they were under arrest for the stolen piano. Once finished she slid her gun to the floor and extended her fingers over the familiar keys.
"Do you remember any songs?" Damian asked.
Jane smiled. "Of course. But should I risk letting people hear me so that they know we're here?"
Damian shrugged. "They'll know soon enough that a huge Starfleet ship is on their tail, there's no way they'll risk hurting us." He held up his gun, "but just in case, I've got your back."
She reverently sat down on the bench in front of the piano and let the melodic notes of her favorite song flow into her memory. She pressed down on the keys and the clear notes reverberated throughout the room. The piano was in a desperate need of a tuning, but she didn't mind as her muscle memory kicked into play and the sweet melody sprung to life.
Suddenly she delved into her memories, transcending far away from her current location.
She was sitting at a piano, her fingers moving expertly over the keys as she played her favorite song. She was located in a brightly lit room, and as she glanced around herself she realized that she was in her own house, back in the 21st century, so many long years ago, in a different universe. Her song was interrupted by the sound of loud whirring and whooshing, which made her smile as she released her fingers from the keys. She turned to look into the center of her living room as a blue box began to appear before fading away, the sounds diminishing as the structure became more visible.
Once the noises stopped the tardis stood proudly in the center of the room. The doors burst open and the Doctor stepped out, all gangly legs and bow tie. "Jane!" He said excitedly, stepping out of the way as Clara trailed out behind him.
"Hello Doctor, Clara," Jane said, amused. She hadn't been expecting a visit. "What are you doing here?"
"Keeping my promise," Clara said.
"Though you won't remember what promise, because it hasn't happened to you yet," The Doctor clarified.
"Oh?" Jane asked, intrigued.
Clara happily bounded forwards to her. "Yeah, we're here to tell you that we made it, safe and sound." She came and took a seat besides her on the piano bench.
"RIght, we didn't blow up into a million pieces, and that's good," The Doctor stated as he walked around the living room and peered at the objects she kept on her mantelpiece.
"Or get trapped on an alternate universe., Clara added.
"I have no idea of what you are talking about., Jane said, watching the two of them with a bemused expression.
"Good, good, you shouldn't," The Doctor said as he turned back to walk to the tardis. "Alright, we popped in, Clara kept her promise, and we'll be going now."
"Oh, you aren't going to stay and chat for a bit?" Jane complained.
"Are you kidding?" The Doctor said incredulously, leaning out of the door to the tardis. "If we stay here any longer you're going to whittle the truth out of us and there won't be any surprise for you once you actually experience it!"
"Yeah, he might let something slip about your future, like the fact that you fall in love with an extremely handsome, tall, dark haired bloke who is extremely smart," Clara said, jumping to her feet.
"Clara!" The Doctor objected. "In the tardis, now!"
Jane stood. "Well, I certainly look forwards to whatever you lot are talking about."
The Doctor offered her a lopsided grin. "You're going to be waiting a very, very long time, so don't get your hopes up."
"Well then, thanks for the spoilers," Jane smirked.
Clara walked to the tardis and gave her a wave before she stepped inside, the Doctor closing the door behind her. Jane listened to the familiar sounds as the tardis wheezed to life and began slowly fading from sight. She mused about what they could have possibly be talking about, and figured that they had just seen her in the wrong time- on purpose for some reason.
Jane finished the song just as her memory ended. She released her fingers from the keys and smiled brightly, knowing that the doctor was safe. She glanced over at Damian, who was staring at her with awe and respect.
"That was incredible," he said in admiration.
Jane smiled and stood from the piano. "I just remembered something."
His eyebrows pulled together as he peered at her with curiosity. "Oh?"
"It's a memory from when I was back on the other universe. I was playing the same song on a piano, and the doctor came to visit me. He's safe and back where he needs to be."
Damian's expression turned to relief. "Good."
"Do you know what that means?" she asked as she peered into his eyes that were so colorful and bright, the mix of colors melting together.
"What?"
"You kept your promise." She closed her eyes as she leaned into him, running her fingers through his hair as she pulled his face down to give him a meaningful kiss.
