"Lady Emma?" Dimitri appeared in the door and I looked up at him from the papers in my lap. Anastasia had fallen asleep, so I'd crept out of her room so that I wouldn't disturb her. "You have a visitor on the request of His Majesty."
"Did His Majesty say who it was?" I asked as I stood from my chair and started putting my writing and utensils into a secret drawer I'd found in the vanity in the corner of my room. Dimitri shook his head.
"Just that he was some kind of doctor, who wanted to meet the woman who's been spending so much time with Her Majesty." I paled and ducked down and shoved my curls that had come loose from their pins into new ones to make sure I was as presentable as possible.
"How long do I have before he arrives?" I asked while shaking out my arms to alleviate the pins and needles that had risen up again. I was starting to lose hope that that would ever go away fully. Dimitri grimaced sympathetically at my actions and shrugged at me.
"He should be here almost immediately." He closed the door suddenly and I took that to mean that my guest had arrived, and Dimitri was going to introduce him properly.
"Lady Emma. The doctor," Dimitri announced, and I clapped my hand over my mouth as I gasped in shock as the door swung open again to reveal The Doctor.
The Doctor and I stared at each other for a few seconds and he grinned at me broadly in relief before I ruined whatever moment was about to happen by bursting into relieved tears. I'd practically convinced myself that I would never see him again and that I would be executed the moment Anastasia died and there the Doctor was, and I knew that he wouldn't leave me behind. He launched forward immediately and threw his arms around me.
"It's alright Emma. I'm here. Oh God Emma I'm so glad to see you." I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my face into the curve of his shoulder and neck. He was pressing uncountable kisses into the top of my head between his words and his voice trembled as he murmured more soothing and grateful words into my hair. I realized at that moment that he was shedding a few tears as well, which made me cry harder because I hadn't ever seen him cry before.
"I've never been so happy to see you," I blubbered between my tears. Dimitri cleared his throat awkwardly. I peered at him over the Doctor's shoulder, who seemed completely unwilling to let me go yet as evidenced by the fact that his arms tightened around me.
"I'll make sure that no one disturbs you." He shut the door again and when the lock clicked the Doctor pushed me away and started thumbing my tears away after he knuckled his own away.
"Are you alright? Have they been treating you okay? How long have you been here? What have you been doing?" I sniffled and tried to get myself under control to answer, but he kept rolling. "God Emma. I'm so sorry. I'm so glad that you're alive."
"It wasn't your fault," I said immediately, and the Doctor let out a wet chuckle as he reeled me in for another tight, lingering hug before he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket. Obviously I was crying too hard for him to keep up with me without help.
"You'll have to tell that to the TARDIS, she feels awful. And answer my questions I've been worried sick," he said. I raised an eyebrow up at him, even though I was pretty sure that any emotion I was trying to portray was lost because my eyes had gone all puffy and I was still crying.
"Let me just be happy that you're here for a few seconds before I have to face the inquisition okay?" I said and mopped up my tears. The Doctor smiled at me and nodded as he leaned forwards slightly and rested his cheek on my head while he raced his hands up and down my arms. I almost started crying again in full force because I hadn't realized how used I had gotten to the Doctor's physical affection until I didn't have it anymore and I'd missed it more than I had thought I would.
"I've been re-enacting a thousand and one nights with the first Tsarina of Russia Anastasia Romanova, telling her stories about our adventures and stuff from the future," I said, and the Doctor blinked at me in surprise.
"I wasn't expecting you to say that." He made a go on gesture.
"They've been treating me well. Better than I was expecting anyways. I'm mostly just happy that I didn't suddenly appear in Ekaterinburg in 1918." He shuddered and nodded before he frowned at me suspiciously.
"How long have you been here?" I bit my lip as I thought about it. The days had sort of started to bleed together since I never saw anything beyond two rooms and the hallway that connected them.
"A week," I said finally, and his face softened again as he swooped forwards to hug me again.
"Oh, Emma I'm sorry." He whispered something about mere minutes into the top of my head.
"Really it hasn't been that bad. The most irritating part is that I'm almost positive that someone is poisoning Anastasia, but I can't figure out who or how." I shook out the pins and needles in my arms in frustration.
"Almost?" The Doctor asked with an eyebrow raise and a small smirk. I shrugged.
"I'm not a doctor." Dimitri knocked on the door and pushed it open slowly.
"Her Majesty is awake and asking for you." I nodded and stepped towards the door. The Doctor leaped into step beside me and caught my hands in his. I gave our hands a confused look even as I squeezed back reassuringly. He gave me a desperate look in return, like he couldn't put words to why he wasn't ready to let me go.
"Lead the way Dimitri," I said as I pulled us out the door and into the hallway.
"Dimitri is it?" the Doctor asked idly. I wasn't sure if he was teasing me or genuinely asking Dimitri for his name.
"Dimitri Vladimov," Dimitri confirmed with a curt nod. The Doctor snuck a glance at me.
"He talked me down from a panic attack my first night here. We've been friends ever since." Dimitri gave me a warm smile at that and the Doctor squeezed my hand tightly enough that I turned to look at him.
"I should have been here." Guilt was pouring off him in waves. I laughed lightly and nudged him.
"I fell out of the TARDIS. It's not your fault, so don't make it your fault." Dimitri pushed the door open in front of us and I dropped the Doctor's hand to perch on the side of the bed and grinned at Anastasia.
"Hello, Your Majesty, do you feel a little better?" I asked, and she gave me a smile as she gestured for me to help her sit up. When she was propped up she noticed the Doctor over my shoulder and stared at him in what I took to be pleasant surprise.
"He found you," she whispered, and I nodded. I heard the Doctor suck in a breath in shock, probably realizing how much I had talked about him if she recognized him on sight.
"He showed up today and offered to take a look at you for His Majesty," I said. The Doctor stepped forward and reached for her hand as we switched places. I went around to the other side of the bed, picked up at hair brush from the bedside table and started combing Anastasia's hair.
"What all has Emma told you?" He asked Anastasia quietly as we worked. She smiled softly and reached over to sandwich his hand between hers reassuringly.
"That she's from 2009, she went to university and studied history, that the two of you travel through time and space in a wardrobe." The Doctor shot me a raised eyebrow and I shrugged. I hadn't exactly known how to describe a police box before the invention of the telephone. "She's been worried that she was never going to see you again."
"She told you that?" The Doctor asked as he jerked in shock and flashed me a worried look. I blinked in surprise because I hadn't realized that I'd been so obvious about my unspoken concerns.
"Not with words, but her eyes are very expressive," Anastasia said, and the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver. Anastasia looked at me and gestured towards it. "This is the noise making tool that you mentioned?"
"Yep, that's the sonic screwdriver," I said as I jerkily tied off her braid, the pins and needles had come back, and got up to answer the knock at the door while the Doctor scanned Anastasia quickly. He murmured something to her under his breath and she responded just as softly while I opened the door.
"More broth?" Anastasia asked lightly as I came back bearing a tray of food. I grinned at her.
"I'm afraid so." I placed the tray over her lap and let the Doctor pull me away by my elbow. He ducked his head closer to mine and I had to hold back the tears again because I was still reeling over the fact that he was here.
"She's definitely being poisoned. Mercury I'd wager," he said, and I bit my lip and shook out my arms.
"Ivan always thought that she had been poisoned even though there was never any real proof of it," I said. The Doctor nodded thoughtfully.
"Obviously her food is tested, so it can't be that. Do you know what they're giving her for medicine?" He asked, and I shook my head.
"I'm not allowed to be here when the court doctors give it to her." I grinned at him as a thought occurred to me. "We're starting to set a pattern for poisonings in the past." He laughed.
"Two times does not a pattern make," he said with a smile.
"I did say start." There was a knock at the door and I stepped back towards Anastasia who looked up from her bowl as Dimitri and one of the court doctors pushed the door open. The Doctor bounced forward to speak with the court doctor.
"Medicine already?" She asked as I smoothed her hair back from her face. I gave her a teasing smile.
"That's what happens when you sleep the day away," I teased gently before the court doctor cleared his throat very pointedly and Dimitri grasped my elbow.
"See you tomorrow, Your Majesty." I curtsied properly and chomped down on my lip to keep from snapping at the court doctor as he obviously shoved me towards the door away from Anastasia. The Doctor spun towards him with his mouth open, obviously ready to force an apology, but stopped when he noticed me shaking my head. I'd gotten used to it, and I didn't want him to kick up a fuss over nothing.
"I quite like that Doctor of yours," Dimitri said as we walked back to my room. I smiled at him slowly.
"I think he likes you too." I flopped onto my bed and Dimitri laughed gently.
"I'll let the Doctor back in when he gets here." I mumbled my thanks to him at his words and drifted off to sleep as soon as the door shut.