Hello, hello, hello, lovelies! I apologize for taking so long, I've had a wild couple of weeks. I'm preparing for a big move for college and it's been a big flurry of saying goodbye to my family and packing and making decorations for my new house. I really am sorry for the disappointing amount of chapters I've been producing lately, but I swear I'm working on it. I love and appreciate every single one of you that reads this story and supports me, you guys are truly the best and I love reading your supportive comments on the chapters, each one truly means the world to me. That being said, let's move past all this mushy gushy stuff and get into the replies! I hope you have a nice day and enjoy this chapter!
Replies to Comments:
bored411: Things were kind of tense! Hope you have a nice day and enjoy this next chapter!
Pastel-Potatoes: I really do appreciate the feedback, 100%! I understand that not everybody likes the same things and has different opinions on the pace, etc, and that's totally okay. This story might not be for people who don't like slow burning stories, which is absolutely okay, I understand that it's not a story that everyone will enjoy. I will say that this story is one of the slowest burning stories I've ever written and there's a reason. Audrey has gone through a lot of things in the past that define her character and play into the reason that she's so hesitant with the Doctor. It's not that she doesn't see the hints, it's that she doesn't WANT to. She wants to believe that they exist in this world separate from her past and her own personal struggles where she can have a second chance and completely start over. This chapter and 'Guilt and Exit Wounds' were to establish the fact that she knew something was different and was there for her to connect it as the story builds up. This section of the story has about 8ish chapters left, and then Audrey has a big moment at the end that leads into the next section of the story and allows us to open up more into her past, her personal storyline, and her relationship with other characters beyond their exposition. I promise I've taken in your words with great consideration but I don't think the pacing overall is going to change as I've already mapped out most of the plot line and story arc. Still, I appreciate it, thank you. Hope you have a nice day and enjoy this next chapter!
Fakira: Oh no, I'm sorry you're having a hard time, lovely! Thank you so much for your comment, it was so sweet! It was fun to explore the way the Doctor (who knows Audrey better than anyone else) would pick up on smaller cues that indicate her mood or feelings, while Rose (someone who barely knows Audrey) would only see the front that Audrey projects. Hope you have a nice day and enjoy this next chapter!
singingKatelyn: Aw, thanks, lovely! Hope you have a nice day and enjoy this next chapter!
PrincessMagic: Thank you! I can't wait to write more Jack/Audrey chapters, honestly. I love them. Hope you have a nice day and enjoy this next chapter!
Guest: I have been super busy, but I'm hoping to be back to my normal posting schedule soon. Thank you so much for your kind words, patience, and support. Hope you have a nice day and enjoy this chapter!
Safety was a foreign concept to Audrey. Life was full of explosions and dictators and impending doom, or at least her life was. She didn't have much time to consider the idea of feeling safe. All she knew was that when she was running from danger, the Doctor's hand in hers and the wind rushing through her hair, she felt alive.Safety hadn't been high on her priority list.
Yet, as she drifted into consciousness, she was flooded with the sensation of feeling completely safe. Warmth filled her veins in a way that made her feel absolutely content.
She allowed herself to revel in the feeling for a few moments before she forced herself to open her eyes. Darkness gave way to a room that was unfamiliar to her. As soon as she had awakened one sense, all the others started to follow in suit. She felt the blossoming of pain in her neck that told her that she had slept in the wrong position. Then, she became incredibly aware of how she had fallen asleep and who was lying next to her.
The Tenth Doctor slept soundly by her side, his features seemed softer when he slept and light snores escaped him. The striped suit he usually wore was replaced with a pair of striped pajamas in the same color as the TARDIS. She knew she had fallen asleep with the Ninth Doctor after their conversation (Which lasted many hours into the night and spanned every subject imaginable), but it seemed the universe was playing a trick on her; falling asleep beside one Doctor and waking up next to another.
The comforting atmosphere of the Doctor's room clouded her mind momentarily. Suddenly, all she could think about was how the Doctor smelled like home or the way she didn't mind feeling that stiffness in her neck if it meant that she could live in this moment forever.
Allowing these thoughts to filter through her mind and stir up emotions in her heart that she hadn't allowed herself to acknowledge felt like walking up to the edge of a cliff. She was staring down at the abyss of uncertainty below her, toeing the line of falling head over heels into it, when the fog cleared. Logic replaced emotion, barriers were resurrected and clamped tightly shut over the parts of her heart that had begun to spill out.
What are you doing? Audrey asked herself frantically. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
With as much haste as she could muster in these first moments of consciousness, Audrey tried to pull herself from the bed without waking the Doctor. She was hoping she'd be able to sneak out before he woke up and started to ask questions, like 'why are you in my bed?'. The only problem with that plan was that the moment she started to move, the bed creaked and the Doctor's eyebrow furrowed as he was stirred from his sleep.
Audrey froze in place, wishing so badly for the Doctor to go back to sleep or for the ground to swallow her up whole, either one – she wasn't picky.
Oh, god. Please don't wake up, she thought to herself. This would be one hell of an awkward situation if he woke up now.
"Just a few more minutes, love," The Doctor mumbled, snuggling closer to his pillow and reaching out his hand. It brushed across the sheets slowly until it hit the side of Audrey's own hand and wrapped weakly around it.
Audrey's eyes widened and out of instinct she pulled her hand away quickly. This seemed to be the final push that the Doctor needed to wake up. His eyes opened slowly as they drifted up slowly to look at her, half in the bed and half out of it.
The moment their eyes locked, Audrey leapt from the bed completely and tried to put as much distance between the two of them as she could.
"Ok, this is not what it looks like," Audrey blurted out.
"Well, good morning to you too," The Doctor replied sleepily.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to, like, invade your privacy or whatever. I-I don't get to choose where the universe pulls me, okay?" Audrey rambled, her voice taking on a defensive tone. "It just tugs me around willy nilly and sometimes you end up in an exploding ship or a mud hut in Tanzania or- or your best friend's bed…apparently. That last one's a new one but-"
"Stop talking," The Doctor groaned, covering his eyes with his arm. "It's too early to talk."
"Right, yes, okay," Audrey sputtered nervously. She hovered at the edge of the bed, shifting from foot to foot. She'd never been in the Doctor's room before, it was a totally new environment for her, not to mention the incredibly stifling awkwardness that permeated the air.
The Doctor, as if sensing her anxious energy, lifted his arm away from his face. He between her and the bed with a pointed look. Audrey nodded and then sat on the very edge of the bed. Seemingly content that she was no longer hovering oddly over him, the Doctor closed his eyes again and let out a yawn.
"Where've you just come from?" The Doctor asked after a moment of silence.
"London Blitz," Audrey said. "With lots of gas mask people."
"Oh," The Doctor said. It could've just been because of how tired he seemed or how out of it Audrey was, but she could've sworn he sounded just the tiniest bit disappointed.
"So, what've you been up to?" Audrey asked curiously. She felt the odd urge to fill the silence with anything so that she could get rid of the awkward atmosphere.
"I've been traveling on my own lately. Apart from you, that is," He said, appearing to think for a minute. "We did meet this one woman who was dosed up with Huon energy, but that's mostly spoilers."
"That's is?"
The Doctor was silent a moment before his face lit up with excitement, "Well…I noticed this hospital with these- these plasma coils around it and I thought we could check it out."
"That's more like it."
"Don't you dare, Doctor," Audrey warned as she walked back into the section of the hospital that the Doctor was staying in.
The Doctor's brown eyes shot up to meet hers and he gave her a look similar to that of a child who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Audrey snatched the red diary out of his hands and held it to her chest protectively.
"These are spoilers and you know it."
The diary was a gift that the Doctor had given her yesterday, when they had first admitted him to the hospital. He told her that it was for her to write all of their adventures in so she could keep track of them all. He also mentioned that he had found it in a market on her favorite planet, but then quickly shut his mouth when he realized she hadn't been there yet.
Since there was so many adventures to catch up on, Audrey had been writing in it all of last night and most of this morning. She was thankful though because, otherwise she would've been stuck here, bored out of her mind as they waited for the sign they were looking for.
Right now, she was filling in the time that his later Eleventh self had taken her to see Queen in concert. She was about a two weeks away from being caught up to their current adventure and was hoping she could get it done before this adventure had truly begun.
"So, how was your morning, Mrs. Smith?" The Doctor teased, wiggling his eyebrows as Audrey sat down in the seat beside his bed.
"Don't call me that," Audrey said, scowling at him from over the top of her diary. "And I'll be better once something exciting happens. So far, all I'm getting are the same readings as yesterday. And, no one's even noticed the TARDIS sitting outside, which I personally don't understand. She doesn't exactly blend in."
"Humans are unobservant," The Doctor shrugged.
Audrey rolled her eyes, "I take offense to that."
"You're not entirely human."
"Yet, I'm entirely offended."
Suddenly, the curtain separating the bed from the rest of the ward was pulled back, revealing Mr. Stoker and a team of medical students. The man wore a bright, but clearly practiced smile, and Audrey noticed his larger-than-average ears that reminded her of her leather jacket wearing Doctor. Next, she noticed a particular young woman that stood amongst the other medical students.
Martha Jones, wearing a white lab coat and everything, stood with a few other college-age students, but didn't seem to recognize either of them. Audrey didn't say anything to her or the Doctor, assuming that this must be the first time they met.
"Now then, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith, a very good morning to you," Stoker greeted, "How are you today?"
"Oh, not so bad. Still a bit, you know, blah," The Doctor replied, sticking his tongue out. Stoker then turned his attention to Audrey and though she could tell he wasn't really interested in how she was, she decided to humor him for the sake of being polite.
"I'm wonderful, thank you. You have a lovely staff," She commented and Stoker nodded gratefully before moving on.
"John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me."
Martha took out her stethoscope and walked around the side of the bed so she could listen to the Doctor's heart, "That wasn't very clever, running around outside, was it?"
"Sorry?"
"On Chancellor Street this morning," Martha clarified, "You came up to me and took your tie off."
"Really? What did I do that for?" The Doctor asked, sounding interested. He and Audrey shared a similar look, both of them knowing that he had been in the hospital bed all morning.
Martha shrugged, "I don't know, you just did."
"Not me. I was here, in bed. Ask the nurses."
"Well, that's weird, 'cause it looked like you. Have you got a brother?"
"No, not any more. Just me," The Doctor answered. At his answer, Audrey tried to conceal her surprise and focus on placing a comforting hand on his arm. She was always taken aback by these casual admissions of his life that she didn't know about but knew this was hardly the time to ask questions.
"As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Miss Jones," Stoker interrupted with a sigh of annoyance.
"Sorry. Right," Martha apologized, focusing in the Doctor's heartbeat once more. After a second she began to hear the sound of a heartbeat and another echoing it. She moved her stethoscope from one side of his chest to the other, then looked between Audrey and the Doctor in wonder. Both of them gave her secret smiles and the Doctor winked.
"I weep for future generations. Are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?"
Martha blinked and shook her head, "Er, I don't know. Stomach cramps?"
It was clear that the presence of two heartbeats had rattled Martha so much that she had said the first thing that came to her mind, just for the sake of answering the question.
"That is a symptom, not a diagnosis. And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart," Stoker said as he went to pick up the chart which he dropped after getting a small shock.
"That happened to me this morning," Martha interjected while the other students rang in with their own experiences of it. The Doctor and Audrey shared a knowing look.
"That's only to be expected. There's a thunderstorm moving in and lightening is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by. Anyone?" Stoker prompted.
"Benjamin Franklin," Audrey answered, ignoring the look that she gained from Mr. Stoker.
"My mate, Ben. That was a day and a half, don't you remember, Audrey? I got rope burns off that kite, and then I got soaked…" The Doctor trailed off.
"Stop talking," Audrey hissed, still smiling at the medical students. The Doctor seemed to be too distracted to hear her or to pay attention.
Stoker forced a smile, "Quite."
"And then I got electrocuted," The Doctor finished, looking around the group with a wide smile. Audrey shook her head, exasperated.
"Moving on," Stoker announced to the group as they walked away, "I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric."
Martha looked back at the two of them as she was ushered away with the rest of the group and Audrey gave her a big grin in return.
"Oh, Martha Jones…" Audrey said, "You brilliant girl, you."
"Is that a hint?" The Doctor asked, turning to look at her. Audrey only shook her head as she went back to writing in her diary.
"Spoilers."
Audrey had been getting the Doctor and herself a cup of tea from down the hall when the whole building shook in something similar to an earthquake. She hurried back to the ward to see people gathered around the windows while screaming and pointing at the view in front of them. Outside the windows it was dark and she could see stars shining, which was odd considering it had been the middle of the afternoon when she had left.
Finally, some excitement, Audrey thought to herself with a smirk.
From across the room, the Doctor caught her eye and nodded in affirmation before drawing the curtain around his bed.
"All right now, everyone back to bed. We've got an emergency but we'll sort it out. Don't worry," The reassuring voice of Martha Jones called out as she ushered them back to their beds.
Audrey stood in front of the window, looking out at the rocky surface of what she assumed to be the moon. In the sky she could see the Earth glowing brightly.
Martha and another young woman walked to the window, not yet noticing Audrey standing there. As Martha reached to open the window, the other woman grabbed onto her arm tightly.
"Don't! We'll lose all the air!" She protested.
"But they're not exactly air tight," Martha argued, "If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away, but it didn't. So how come?"
The Doctor came out from behind the curtain, now fully dressed, and looked at Martha impressed.
"Very good point. Brilliant, in fact. What was your name?" He asked, coming up to stand next to them. Audrey sent him a smug look.
"Martha," She replied.
"Well then, Martha Jones, the question is, how are we still breathing?"
"We can't be," The other woman interjected.
"Obviously we are, so don't waste my time," The Doctor said, ignoring the disapproving look that Audrey gave him. He moved closer to inspect the windows before turning back to Martha, "Martha, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor, or a veranda?"
"By the patients' lounge, yeah."
"Fancy going out?" Audrey asked.
"We might die," The Doctor warned her seriously and Martha raised an eyebrow at him.
"We might not," She countered.
When the Doctor looked impressed with Martha, Audrey couldn't help but beam proudly. Now that she knew this was the first meeting of the Doctor and Martha, she felt excited to be the one who knew the most out of the three. This was the adventure that she could watch the Doctor be amazed by Martha's brilliancy, something he often brushed off.
Martha directed them to the balcony outside of the patients lounge and they all three came to a stop in front of the doors.
Audrey turned to the Doctor, "Well go on, Alienboy. You can go first."
He pushed open the doors slowly. The three of them walked out when they realized that there was still air for them to breathe.
"We've got air," Martha whispered in amazement, "How does that work?"
"Just be glad it does," The Doctor told her. He dragged Audrey over to the edge where they both leaned over to get a look at the surface. Martha was still too stunned to move from her place as she openly gawked at the view in front of her, eyes glazed over in awe.
"I've got a party tonight. It's my brother's twenty first. My mother's going to be really…really…" Martha rambled before cutting herself off. As is sensing the other girl's situation, Audrey turned to give her an inquisitive look.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Want to go back in?" The Doctor asked and Martha shook her head quickly.
"No way. I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same, it's beautiful," Martha told them, making Audrey smile.
It was always so interesting to watch the ways others reacted to seeing sights such as these, especially when they were people who didn't see it every day. Audrey was still at the stage herself where everything was new and exciting and beautiful, but seeing Martha look out with the same wonderment was amazing in itself. The Doctor seemed to think so as well if the smile he was giving the two girls was anything to go by.
"Do you think?"
"How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are."
"Standing in the Earthlight," Audrey replied, "Oh my god, this is amazing."
The Doctor turned to her in surprise, "Really, after all the places we've been? This is what you find amazing."
"I find all of it amazing," Audrey told him honestly and he smiled. The appreciation Audrey held for new experiences never ceased to amaze him. Sometimes he found it hard to see things in that light after traveling for so long but Audrey never seemed to feel that way, even when they weren't in the most ideal circumstances.
"What do you think happened?" Martha asked them.
"What do you think?" The Doctor fired back.
"Extraterrestrial," She said with a firm nod, "It's got to be. I don't know, a few years ago that would have sounded mad, but these days? That spaceship flying into Big Ben, Christmas, those Cybermen things."
"Seriously?" Audrey whispered to the Doctor. What was it with this world and aliens? In her universe there had never been anything like this. Sure, some people believed in aliens and there were always those nutters who talked about being abducted by little green people, but never anything so public and known.
Martha didn't seem to notice Audrey's reaction as her own face turned sad, "I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home."
"I'm sorry," Audrey told the woman. She didn't know what Martha was referring to exactly, but she could tell she had lost her cousin and that was all she needed to know. Martha nodded in thanks.
"We were there, in the battle," The Doctor spoke up.
Audrey elbowed him in the side, "Spoilers."
"I promise you, Mister Smith, Mrs. Smith, we will find a way out. If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way," Martha declared confidently and Audrey had to say that she was loving the optimism. However, when she heard the name 'Smith' leave Martha's lips, she rolled her eyes
"It's not Smith. That's not his real name. No one is actually called 'John Smith'," Audrey pointed out. Martha looked between the two of them with her eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"Who are you, then?" She asked the Doctor.
"I'm the Doctor," He replied.
"Me too, if I can pass my exams. What is it then, Doctor Smith?"
"Just the Doctor," He told her before pulling Audrey to his side with an arm around her waist, "And this is my wife, Audrey."
"Once again, not your wife," Audrey reminded him. The Doctor looked down at her with an absentminded smile, seemed to be lost in his thoughts for a moment, and then his smile faltered almost imperceptibly.
"Right. Yeah," The Doctor said as he removed him arm from around her waist.
"How do you mean, just the Doctor?"
"Just the Doctor."
"What, people call you the Doctor?" Martha inquired, doubt coloring her voice. When the Doctor confirmed this, she shook her head and turned to look out at the view again, "Well, I'm not. As far as I'm concerned, you've got to earn that title."
"I knew there was a reason I liked you, Martha Jones," Audrey smirked and even though Martha didn't really understand what the other woman meant, she smiled in return.
"Let's have a look. There must be some sort of-" The Doctor began as he picked up a small stone from the ground, pulled his arm back, and launched it as far off the building as he could. The pebble bounced off an invisible wall mid-air and then fell back to the ground, "Forcefield keeping the air in."
"But if that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got. What happens when it runs out?" Martha questioned, eyes wide as she began to worry.
"How many people in this hospital?" The Doctor asked.
"I don't know. A thousand?" She guessed, shrugging.
"One thousand people suffocating," Audrey realized, sounding horrified at the thought. Martha turned to her with a look of similar emotion.
"Why would anyone do that?"
"Head's up! Ask them yourself."
Overhead, three spaceships flew a small distance away before landing. Once the doors had opened, unfamiliar creatures marched out and across the surface of the moon in lines. The three of them stared on with different expressions. Martha's was one of bewilderment as she was still reeling over seeing real aliens, the Doctor was eyeing them in distaste, and Audrey was purely interested. Sure, they weren't in an ideal position but she couldn't help but feel the adrenaline and excitement that came along with such adventures. An alien species she had probably never heard of had taken them to the bloody moon, of course she was curious.
"Aliens," Martha stated, "That's aliens. Real, proper aliens."
Audrey couldn't help letting out a laugh upon seeing Martha's disbelief. Though the woman had no knowledge of it, there was an alien in a much closer proximity to her and she had been talking to him all day.
"Judoon," The Doctor muttered. At his tone of voice and the familiarity at which he spoke of the aliens, Audrey assumed they had to be a name on the seemingly endless list of species he did not get along with or had fought at some point or another.
Shortly after that, they had found themselves in the reception area of the hospital, right at the heart of the action. The Judoon had stormed right past the forcefield and were currently tearing apart the inside of the hospital.
The inhabitants of said hospital were running around in a panic as they screamed various things about the aliens or the fact that they were on the moon. Whenever she heard a person shouting about the latter topic, she rolled her eyes. Honestly, they'd been here for over thirty minutes, surely they would have stepped out of their frenzied state and into the solution mode.
"Dear god, it's an army of bipedal rhinos. Now, that's interesting," Audrey commented as she got a good look at them, which wasn't easy from her position of hiding behind the plants on the upper level with the Doctor and Martha. By the door, a Judoon grabbed the hand of an elderly woman and marked it with an 'X' while stating that she had been catalogued.
"Oh, look down there," The Doctor said, pointing at the bottom floor as he grinned at Audrey and Martha, "You've got a little shop. I like a little shop."
"Never mind that. What are Judoon?" Martha asked.
"They're like police. Well, police for hire. They're more like interplanetary thugs," He informed them.
"So, why'd they bring us all to the moon?" Audrey questioned. Once you'd gotten past the 'space rhinos' thing, only their motive was left now and Audrey didn't see a point to bringing a random hospital filled with humans to the moon. Based off the way they were searching, she assumed they were after something in the building, but what?
"Neutral territory," He replied, "According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated it. That rain, lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop."
"What are you on about, galactic law? Where'd you get that from?" Martha laughed. The Doctor and Audrey moved to the other side of the plants in order to get a better look and Martha followed them, continuing with her questions, "If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?
"No, but I like that. Good thinking. No, I wish it were that simple. They're making a catalogue. That means they're after something non-human, which is very bad news for me."
"Why?" Martha asked curiously, before she had pieced it together from her own thoughts and the identical looks she was receiving from the other two. "Oh, you're kidding me. Don't be ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that."
"Come on then."