"Part of me wants to ask if you have a plan," I said after the Doctor had perfected his concoction. He looked up at me and wiggled his eyebrows.
"And the other part?" He asked.
"Knows that you don't have it figured out." I glanced at the window and winced at the darkness. "You should probably escort me back to Anastasia's room before questions get asked."
"If only so that I know you're safe while I do a bit more exploring," he said and held his arm out to me. I took it and we stepped out into the hallway.
"What exactly are you going to be looking for?" I asked.
"Spaceship," he said with a bright grin.
"Of course," I murmured under my breath as we walked past a serving girl. "Remind me to thank the TARDIS for the fact that the translation matrix still worked."
"I will," he said as we came to a stop outside Anastasia's room. Dimitri was standing guard outside and gave me a welcoming smile. The Doctor squeezed my hands, so I looked back at him. "Be careful."
"Says the man who's about to go exploring to look for a spaceship," I said before squeezing his hands back in promise that I would. Dimitri leaned his head close to mine as we watched the Doctor walk further down the hallway.
"The doctors gave Her Majesty her medicine about twenty minutes ago. She's been sleeping most of the day," he said, and I smiled so that I wouldn't do something rash.
"Thank you, Dimitri," I said and pushed the door open gently before creeping to the side of the bed. I picked up Anastasia's hand and shoved down on the sadness as she stirred weakly.
"We were careful," I said teasingly, and she laughed.
"I knew your Doctor wouldn't let anything happen to you. Even without your reassurances. He looked as if he would drop to his knees and beg for your forgiveness about all the pain you had already suffered." I smiled.
"He would too. He's dramatic enough for it." I brushed a few strands of hair off her forehead.
"I'm surprised he didn't whisk you away once he found you."
"Wouldn't let him. I've grown attached to you," I said, and she laughed breathlessly.
"Has anyone ever told you how delightfully selfless you are?" She sat up and looked at me with the most clarity I'd seen in days. "Because you are and that should be appreciated. Don't ever let anyone or anything crush your light, your empathy."
"I won't." I promised. "Besides if I forget the Doctor will remind me." She gave me a smile and I helped her shift so that she was laying down a bit more.
"Would you stay for a while, Emma?" She asked after we had settled her in and I nodded.
"Do you want another story?" I asked as I sat on the side of the bed next to her. She hummed in agreement, so I launched into the full story of the Doctor's accidental Aztec engagement that he had told me as he fussed with his mixture of chemicals. Anastasia dropped off about halfway through, but I decided I would keep sitting with her for a while since I'd ignored her for most of the day because I'd been with the Doctor. I stood up when the door opened and stiffened when Ivan walked through.
"Good evening Your Majesty," I said quietly as I curtsied. Ivan closed the door firmly and slid the lock into place before turning around.
"Is that really who you think I am?" He asked, and it almost sounded like he had two voices speaking at once. I straightened myself up and fisted my hands into my sides so that he couldn't see the fact that they'd started to shake when he locked the door.
"Physically, Yes. Mentally, no." Ivan tilted his head to the side and lifted a gun from his side and pointed it at me. The Doctor was going to kill me, provided of course that Ivan didn't shoot me.
"So astute for a human," he mused. I shrugged.
"I got a bit of a boost," I said as I watched Ivan lower himself into the chair in the corner of the room that I hated because it was superbly uncomfortable. As soon as he sat down a blue humanoid stood up and took a few steps forward. I noted that they were still holding the gun and bit my lip to hold down my sigh. I'd been kind of hoping that they would have forgotten to keep holding on to it.
"How did you get here?" I asked to kill time, because at some point the Doctor or Dimitri were going to realize that the door was locked and wonder why. Or Ivan was going to wake up and things were going to get difficult.
"My ship flew too close to a black hole and when I broke free of the gravitational pull I was thrown through time until I landed here. Then I decided to inhabit the Tsar until I thought of something better," they explained.
"And something better was poisoning his wife?" I asked a little acidly. They took a step forward and I tried not to flinch.
"Something to pass the time. I suppose I should also admit that the long-term habitation will leave its scars on his mind." They narrowed their eyes at me. "Does that bother you?"
"It certainly answers a few historical questions," I said before taking a deep breath and trying to let out some tension with it. "We can take you home."
"What makes you think you can do that?" They asked.
"I can't, but the Doctor, the guy who I'm traveling with, can. He drives, but he won't mind me offering," I said and tried to ignore the fact that it sounded like I was back in university trying to talk a drunk girl into getting into a cab.
"Maybe I should assure his cooperation with you at gunpoint," they said.
"Honestly, that would probably deter the Doctor from wanting to help you." I sucked in a deep breath between my teeth as they took a few steps forward. "He's not a fan of guns."
"Maybe I should just shoot you and steal your ship." They tilted the gun slightly, like they were trying to intimidate me into telling them where the TARDIS was, and I shrugged as casually as I could manage.
"Well, firstly, I don't know where the Doctor parked and secondly, I don't think the TARDIS will let you get away with that." If she'd bothered to make sure I didn't disintegrate in time vortex, I was pretty sure she wasn't going to just let me get shot outside the doors. "Also, I don't have a key to get in."
"Pardon me, but I think I should return Lady Emma to her room," Dimitri announced as he pushed the door open and knocked gently. I shot him a wild look, unsure if I was telling him to help me or run away. Dimitri made the decision for me as the alien took a step forward and Dimitri launched himself at the alien. They grappled for the gun as I scrambled backwards until I bumped into the bed just as the gun fell and clattered across the floor. I looked down and kicked it under the bed and when I glanced up Dimitri was pulling a dagger out of the alien's stomach.
"Go find the Doctor, my Doctor. Tell him what happened," I ordered to Dimitri as I knelt down next to the alien and grabbed their hand. They grasped it almost instinctively as I watched Dimitri leave the room and shut the door firmly behind him. "I'm sorry. I didn't want it to happen this way."
"You were so afraid the whole time you were here. I could tell." It didn't really sound like a question, but I answered anyways.
"Yes. I was." They looked at me and they seemed afraid, so I squeezed their hand and swallowed against the tears that were welling up in my throat.
"How did you manage it?" They asked.
"I pretended I wasn't terrified whenever it mattered and didn't pretend when it didn't," I said as a tear slid down my cheek.
"I should have liked to see the stars once more." They let out one final exhale and their whole body seemed to shatter into nothingness just as the door swung open again. I looked up at the Doctor and he had his arms around me in an instant.
"Emma, it's alright. I'm here it's alright. Can you tell me what happened?" The Doctor asked so I haltingly told him what had happened that Dimitri had probably missed when he wasn't in the room. The Doctor smoothed his thumb over my cheek rhythmically as I talked, and I leaned into it tiredly.
"Why do I let you out of my sight?" He teased lightly, and I smiled.
"I'll have you know that nothing like this happened until the day you showed up, so I think it's your presence." He beamed at me in response and I realized that he'd been hoping I'd say something like that.
"Lady Emma should not be here when His Majesty wakes," Dimitri said which broke the little moment that the Doctor and I had been stuck in. I nodded and clambered up from the floor while trying to wipe the tears away as I reached for the bed.
"I just need to say goodbye to Anastasia." I fisted my hand in the bed cover and breathed a sigh of relief as it hit me that she'd managed not to wake up during the whole debacle that had just happened. The Doctor nodded gently.
"Yeah of course." I sat down on the side of the bed and shook her awake gently. She smiled at me slowly before she frowned.
"You're crying." I sniffled and smiled.
"I am. I have to go, and I don't want to say goodbye." Anastasia smiled at me again and reached out to squeeze my hand as tightly as she could manage.
"So, don't say goodbye to me. Say farewell and go tell the future hello for me." I laughed as I bent over so I could press a lingering kiss to her cheek.
"Farewell then Anastasia Romanova."
"Farewell Emma Bradley." I stood up and the Doctor wrapped a hand around my elbow and led me out into the hallway. I stepped away from him and wrapped my arms around Dimitri tightly.
"Farewell Dimitri Vladimov. Thank you for everything."
"Farewell Lady Emma." We nodded at each other as the Doctor shook his hand and thanked him for keeping me out of trouble before he started leading me down the hallway. I reached up and tried to scrub the tears away with my sleeve.
"It's stupid to cry," I muttered, and the Doctor shook his head and looped his arm around my waist so that I was tucked against him.
"No, it's not." Then he looked down at my dress like he was seeing it for he first time. "What happened to your clothes?"
"Burned them on night four because Dimitri and I were concerned someone was going to find them and have weird questions," I said honestly. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head just as we rounded one final corner and the TARDIS came into sight. I pressed my forehead against the door and smiled while the Doctor fished out his key.
"Hey, Old Girl, thanks for making sure I didn't die, and I didn't have to learn Russian on the fly," I whispered, and it honestly felt like the TARDIS was hugging me. I stumbled into the console room and rubbed my eyes as all the exhaustion from the past week hit me all at once now that I was in a safe place.
"Tired," I mumbled while the Doctor led me down the hallway to my room and then stopped dead as he opened the door. "Woah."
"I told you she felt awful," the Doctor said as I took in the fact that both my room and my bed had doubled in size and new books and book shelves had appeared to line one of the walls and I noticed that I now had an attached bathroom. "Do you want help with your dress?"
I squinted up at him before deciding that even if his intentions weren't pure, I was too tired to care so I nodded and turned my back to him. He made quick work of the laces and ties and pulled a nightgown over my head as soon as the dress dropped to the floor. I climbed into bed and pulled the covers up and was just about to ask the Doctor to stay when he spoke.
"Do you mind if I keep the nightmares at bay?" I rolled to the other side of the bed and lifted the covers up in invitation.
"Yeah of course you can."
XXXXX
So historical fact time; Anastasia Romanovna was the first wife of Ivan the Terrible and she did die very young. Her last name did eventually become the name of the Romanov Dynasty who ruled Russia from 1613-1918 (the way that all happened was messy and I'm not going to go into it but I definetley encourage you to read into it).
And Ivan really did think that she had been poisoned, it was discovered by archaeologists that she had high levels of mercury in her hair.
But debate remains whether she was actually poisoned or whether the mercury was simply a cure because old fashioned medicine sometimes didn't get stuff right lol.