I sighed and looked at him
"Come with me" I said staring into his eyes, it might sound odd but I knew there was something on his mind, something important, and I didn't want to leave him alone. He hated being alone and I hated him being alone, hundreds of years he'd travelled by himself for a very long time after I disappeared and we'd both be lying if we said what happened didn't affect both of us, him more than me, and as much as we pretend it hasn't the evidence is just too apparent when we're together. It wasn't the same. As much as I'd like to pretend I feel safe and secure back in our TARDIS I was just as scared as he was. It was obvious if you knew what to look for, I was unsure if anyone we'd travelled with had noticed it, but it was there, clear as day. We were terrified of being separated again, simply petrified of even the smallest possibility. Especially now, when I was going through the remembrance process, I think if I lost the Doctor now I'd lose my only little slither of sanity. Imagine it, so many insane, terrifying and heartbreaking things screaming through your mind and nobody to help you make sense of them. I think the Doctor knew that too but not that I did. There were a lot of things I didn't tell the Doctor I knew. Even more so now that I was beginning to remember more, the more I remembered, the more things I felt would be best to play dumb about... like Rose.
"Why?" he asked putting on a brave face
"Because I just don't feel like being alone right now" I lied. I had to; I knew his pride would get in the way if I told him I was worried about him, he'd shrug it off and act like he was fine on his own. In all good honesty, I didn't know if he believed me or if he knew it was complete nonsense and just wanted to go along with it so not to feel weak, I knew it wasn't really relevant but I could never help but wonder.
"Alright" he said with a sigh "I understand why... it must be hard for you" he said getting up and walking out with me
"It's hard for both of us" I said looking at him "It's weird..." I said as my heart began to race. I wasn't sure if I was ready to drop a hint about this yet in case he picked up on it before I felt brave enough to confront him "I mean... sometimes I remember things that... well... seem more like your memories than mine?"
"Ah right that already..." he said thoughtfully "there's a reason we can't tell anyone our names, because anyone who does gets the same 'powers' as us" he explained
"Powers?" I asked
"yeah like regenerations... that's why you're the only one left who knows my name, and vice versa. It should only be known by the few people or maybe... one person we trust the most" He clarified.
"Really?" I asked "So that means I get your memories too?"
"Apparently" he asked but then a worried look crossed his face "What exactly do you remember?" I sighed and put on a brave face
"Not much" I began "just little bits here and there..."
"Like what?" he pressed and I sighed, I didn't want to say anything else, I wish I hadn't said anything in the first place. I should've really thought it through. I walked into the main bathroom and the Doctor followed
"The biggest memory I have is when you first met Rose..." I said hoping he'd believe me "is she still with Mickey?" I asked hoping to make it more believable.
"No..." he said "no I don't think so..."
"Oh, shame" I said stepping into the shower and removing my clothes.
"Lily" he said as I watched his silhouette take a seat on the rim of the bath as I threw my chlorine soaked clothes over the top of the shower door
"yeah?" I asked as I turned the shower on feeling the warm water soak me and quickly overpower the cold
"Did you... did you ever... have anyone... I mean... before you knew me" he asked
"Do you really want to know?" I asked
"Yeah." He replied "I'd feel better about a lot of things if I knew"
"OK then." I said dipping my head under the stream soaking my hair feeling the warm water chase away the cold. "If you must know then no, I didn't." I said slightly embarrassed, I thought a little harder "but there was this one boy, he was my best friend, my only friend really. I never felt anything for him though; he was more like a brother. Other than that there was nobody."
"Why not?" he asked
"Why do you want me to?" I asked and he stuttered slightly
"I don't. I mean, just you being you I would've thought someone would have taken an interest." He said as I squirted some shampoo into the palm of my hand and rubbing it into my hair
"Well you'd be right. There was one or two people who asked me out. It was me who wasn't interested. A lot of the time I asked myself why, I even asked myself if I was a lesbian for quite a few years but then I wasn't interested in any women either. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Now I do though." I explained with a sigh as I rinsed away the bubbles before stepping out of the shower into full view, catching the Doctor of guard
"Lily... you... you're... bare" he stuttered and I rolled my eyes
"Don't be so silly Doctor, according to you; you've seen it all before." I said squeezing the last of the water out of my hair "Pass me a towel" I said casually and he threw one over. "Did you?" I asked as I wrapped it around me
"Did I what?" he asked
"Did you have anyone?" I asked "y'know, before me" he paused as I came and sat beside him, of course, I already knew the answer.
"Well..." he began "there were a lot of women who I helped out who liked me afterwards" he said looking around. I looked at him, watching his expression become scared
"Did you like any of them back?" I asked and he changed the subject
"This boy" he began "what was his name" he asked and I smiled remembering him
"his name was James" I said trying hard to remember the sound of his voice, though I remember a lot of our conversations, our jokes and our days out, small details like that always got away from me.
was cut off by a violent shaking I slipped from the rim into the bath and banged my head, The Doctor slipped and landed on the tiled floor right on his bottom.
"I thought you had her parked?" I asked sitting up quickly in the tub
"So did I" The Doctor said quickly rushing off, I pulled myself out of the bath and chased after him holding my towel around me as I ran after him, I almost slipped several times as I ran, but it was quite useful as 90% of my journey was sped up my the sliding I did cross the floors. I skidded to a halt in the control room and checked all of the monitors
"That's odd" I said examining them "looks like we've been drawn through time by something rather big..." I ducked down and looked at another monitor "November 1st, 1930. Manhattan" I looked at him "ring any bells?"
"There's not a lot going on here right about now, they're still building the Empire State building" he said looking at monitors on the other side of the panel
"Think that could be our big thing?" I asked
"Could be" he said "Still, how has it managed to pull the TARDIS through time and space? It doesn't make sense. I mean, it doesn't seem big enough"
"Well." I said hitching my towel up "we could always go find out"
"Could be dangerous" he said
"Well then, we'd best go help out" I responded walking to the door and freezing as the cold air attacked my damp skin, I turned around and walked back inside "I'd best get dressed first..." I muttered and disappeared out of the control room and through the foyer to my bedroom, a few minutes later I was dressed and ready to go.
"All set?" the Doctor asked and I nodded, he lead the way outside, the cold Atlantic air hitting me as soon as I stepped out.
"Jesus it's freezing" I said looking around "you can't take me anywhere warm for once?" I asked and he laughed
"New York isn't known for its tropical weather Lily" he walked forward slightly looking up "have you met my friend?" he asked and I followed his gaze up into the clouds to find the Statue of Liberty standing tall and strong.
"Good grief she snuck up on us!" I said amused by the fact that I'd missed it up until now. I wandered around the island picking up a newspaper which was lay on a bench by us "Yep, there it is, black and white. November 1st, 1930. The TARDIS was bang on." I said handing him the paper
"She always is" he took it and scanned the front page, I smirked
"You know I love her Doctor but she's not always the most reliable" the Doctor lowered the paper and looked at me, horrified
"She's right there Lily! She can hear you!" he said and I laughed, I looked at the TARDIS apologetically
"Sorry sweetie, you know I love you" I said trying to hold in my laughter. I looked back at the Doctor to see his face had dropped "What's the matter with you?" I asked walking up and looking at the article he was reading
"Hooverville Mystery deepens" I read from the paper "Remind me again what Hooverville is?"
"Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then…" he began
"Wall street crash, 1929. Yeah, I got that." I cut him off
"Yeah. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. Suddenly the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So they ended up here in Central Park." The Doctor lead me away from the TARDIS and slowly to central park where there was a small area filled with makeshift tents and shelters, I'd like to call it a village, but it was more like a slum.
"So Hooverville... it's a slum?" I asked as we stopped outside the area
"More or less." The Doctor responded with his hands in his pockets "But the people here might not thank you for calling it that. Ordinary people. Lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go." I looked on at the place before me and shook my head
"That's terrible..." I said in a sorrowful voice as we continued through Hooverville, eventually we came across some people, they were gathered around one man, a strong looking man he was giving a speech to two squabbling men before him
"We're all starvin'" he boomed as he broke a loaf of bread in half, giving one piece to each man "We all got families somewhere. No stealin' and no fightin'. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together! No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."
"Come on" the Doctor said to me, breaking me away from my thoughts. I'd became lost in the man's words, curious and sympathetic. The Doctor lead me over to the man and in his ever cheerful voice began speaking to him "I suppose that makes you the boss around here?" he asked boldly.
"And, uh, who might you be?" the man asked
"The Doctor" he responded quickly "and this is my assistant Lillian."
"Assistant?" I repeated appalled
"Oh not now Lillian we can discuss this when we get back" he shrugged me off "She's been twisting my arm about a promotion lately I can't get her to give in" he said to the man jokingly
"Oh I'll twist your arm alright! You no good, lying, son of a-" he covered my mouth quickly and looked at the man apologetically
"Women ey? Give them even a little bit of power and suddenly they're the Queen" the man scoffed
"Didn't expect doctors to be so... childish" the man responded I frowned at him wondering why our trip had fallen on pick on Lily day
"Ignore him" I responded "I WAS recently promoted and like most men nowadays he has a hard time adjusting to me as an equal. My name is Doctor Lillian Fray, he's just the Doctor." I said glaring at the Doctor slightly, the man raised his eyebrow
"Two Doctors ey?" he scoffed "Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctors. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day." He said warming his hands over a small fire that burned in an old metal barrel.
"How many of you are there exactly?" I asked inquisitively looking around.
"At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society, black, white, all the same. All starving." He laughed almost bitterly, then continued "So you're welcome. Both of you. But tell me, Doctors, you're a folk of learning, right? Explain this to me." He pointed at the empire state building " That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, and we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?" he asked, this time extremely bitterly. I stuttered, not knowing what to say, I looked at the Doctor who changed the subject by holding up the newspaper
"So…men are going missing. Is this true?"