A/N: This chapter is mostly dialogue, but it's important. More action will take place in the following chapters. Read and review!

"Should I wait until morning to call Andrew?" Annie asked after she told The Doctor that she wanted to make the trip to Virginia.

"You could," he answered, "but with the time difference..."

"What time is it here?"

"2:07," The Doctor told her, glancing at his watch.

"So it's only 9:00 there. I should probably call now..." Annie began chewing her thumbnail out of nervousness.

"Only if you want to," The Doctor said, catching her hand with his and squeezing it. "I'll stay with you the whole time," he reminded her.

Annie took her phone from the bedside table and took a deep breath before dialing Andrew's number. She turned around and maneuvered so she was sitting next to The Doctor. He wrapped his arms around her slender frame, pulling her close to his chest while the phone rang.

"Hello?" Andrew finally answered. Annie noted that he had a note of hope in his voice.

"Hi, Andrew. It's Annie."

"Annie? I never thought...I...Thanks for calling me back," he stuttered.

"Of course," she replied, unsure of what to say.

"Well, you never did before," Andrew snapped.

"I'm sorry, Andy," Annie began to tear up.

"Nevermind," he brushed off her apology. "So who was that guy who answered your phone earlier?"

"My fiancé," she answered, pulling herself together, "The Doc - er...John Smith."

"John Smith? I thought you were with Mark something or other."

"No, that ended years ago."

"You still in Scotland?"

"No, we moved to London in June. How about you?" Annie was relaxing a bit as she and Andrew talked. The two had been close growing up; as painful as the situation was, she was still glad to hear Andrew's voice.

"Still here, helping dad with the farm."

"Married?" she prodded.

"Yes," Andrew replied. Annie could hear a hint of a smile in his voice. "Three years in April. We have a little boy, Adam."

"Good for you," Annie told him, smiling in return. The Doctor was relieved to feel the tension slowly beginning to drain from Annie's body. He squeezed her hand again and she looked up at him, giving him a small smile.

"So, I don't know if..erm...John, you said?"

"Yes, John," Annie answered, giving The Doctor a wink.

"I don't know if John told you, but Pops died this morning," Andrew went back to his serious tone.

"How's Nan doing?" Annie asked, her nervousness returning.

"As well as can be expected, I think," Andrew told her.

"What happened?"

"Pops has been sick for a while. Lung cancer."

"I guess that two pack a day habit finally got to him," Annie said harshly.

"It was awful, Annie. Don't say that. You weren't even there to see him so sick," Andrew shot back.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry, Andy, I shouldn't have said that."

"No, you shouldn't have."

There was a long silence that followed. Annie suddenly realized that, while her family had hurt her, had driven her to run away, she may have hurt them, too. She had never thought of things that way before.

"John said the service is Friday?" Annie broke the silence.

"Yeah, Friday at ten."

"At Temple, I'm assuming? Graveside at the farm? With a potluck to follow?" Annie's mind was filled with memories of her grandparent's old Baptist church in Salem.

"Of course. Those Baptists," Andrew said, teasing.

"Those Baptists," Annie echoed, glad that the mood had lightened again. "We'll be there," she told him, looking up to The Doctor again. He nodded, silently reaffirming his earlier words.

"Seriously? You're coming back to Salem?" Andrew sounded incredulous.

"Yes. We'll be there, John and I both. I'll call once we've booked our flight."

"Sounds good. I'll be honest, Annie," he continued, "I never expected you to come back."

"I didn't either," she admitted. "But I feel like I need to be there, for Pops."

"Well you know you're welcome to stay with Shelby and I while you're here."

"Thanks, Andy," Annie said sincerely. "I'll call when we know what we're doing."

After Annie hung up, she snuggled deeper in The Doctor's embrace. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling as if a giant weight had been lifted from her chest. She was still feeling conflicted - after all, it wasn't just the prospect seeing her estranged family that was affecting her. She and The Doctor were still on shaky ground. Not to mention the fact that she was grieving the loss of her grandfather. She still hadn't allowed that reality to sink in. She knew it would in full force on Friday, but for right now it just seemed so unreal.

"See, that wasn't so bad," The Doctor told her, kissing the top of her head.

"No, it wasn't. We need to look up flights, I suppose."

"You sleep for a while," The Doctor said. "I'll look up flights."

"Are you sure?" Annie asked.

"I don't mind," he assured her. "I promise I won't book anything until you've approved. Sound like a plan?"

"Sounds like a plan. Thank you for being so wonderful. I don't deserve you."

The Doctor leant down and kissed his beloved. "Don't say that," he told her gravely, "Don't ever say that." No matter what difficulties they might be going through, he didn't ever want his love to feel inadequate or unworthy of anything or anyone. She was amazing, brilliant. She certainly had flaws, but so did he. The couple shared a serious moment, holding each other's gaze intensely. "Sleep," The Doctor finally repeated, leaning in for another kiss before getting out of bed. Annie laid down again and settled in for a few hours of sleep.


If someone had told The Doctor a year ago that he would be sitting at his kitchen table at three in the morning in his flat in London, looking for plane tickets to his fiancée's grandfather's funeral, he never would have believed them. He probably would have laughed in their face at the absurd suggestion. However, that was the exact scenario he found himself in that cold night in November. He managed to find a flight for he and Annie leaving on Wednesday. He would ask off of work and find a substitute teacher for the last three days of the week. There was no way he would let Annie go through this alone.