The Doctor and Danni loved each other dearly. If you didn't know them, you would struggle to understand why. Danni could be incredibly friendly, and forgiving, and maybe a bit naïve when it came to making friends. The Doctor was the opposite. He seemed cold and belittling, with very little patience for anyone at all, including his wife.
Once you got to know them, however, this wasn't quite the case. Danni was kind and happy until you hurt the people she loved. Then she could be a bigger force to be reckoned with than her husband. The Doctor didn't have patience for anyone until they proved to not be selfish and ignorant themselves. When he took you as a friend, you were never scared to call for help, and he would always come. He was loyal, and incredibly smart, and had a dry humour that took could take a moment to get but then his playful side would come through.
Either way, even if it was hard to understand, it was very easy to see that that they loved each other dearly.
This was especially evident as they prepared breakfast together. If anyone had been there, they would have seen them moving together in harmony. The Doctor was cooking, for once, while Danni prepared the cold food and drinks. They would turn and manoeuvre around each other with ease, never running into each other, and never getting in each other's way without even a word of where they were going or what they were doing.
Which is why the Doctor jumped slightly when he heard the crash of a plate as it fell to the floor. He turned to look at his wife, who was staring at the floor like she couldn't quite understand how the broken plate had ended up there.
He smirked slightly. Her own natural clumsiness always seemed to surprise her. "Did you not like that one, my Pet?" he asked as they both bent down to pick up the pieces.
"I-I guess not," she replied with a bit of a stutter. She really wasn't sure how the plate made it onto the floor. One minute she was picking it up to put the slices of melon she'd cut up onto it, the next it was hitting the floor. She didn't even remember dropping it.
"I'm sorry," she started, realising he was cleaning up her mess. "Here, I can do it."
"I'm sure you can," he agreed. "But it means I can't do this."
He leant forward, placing a kiss on her lips and she couldn't help smile at him when he pulled away. "Yeah, you're right," she said. "Cleaning up wouldn't have been half as fun without that."
He smiled at her, yet again unable to believe that she was by his side, then he stood up. "You shouldn't be apologising to me anyway," he pointed out. "You should apologise to the TARDIS, it's her plate you broke."
She nodded, looking up to the ceiling. "Sorry sweetie," she called. "You forgive me, right?"
There was no noise and Danni grinned. "Thanks!"
They both went back to finishing up their various parts of the meal, but whenever she thought the Doctor wasn't looking, he saw her face pull into a frown. She still couldn't quite remember why she dropped the plate, and it was bothering her. Her clumsiness was always accounted for, but not this. Something happened, she was sure of it, but there was no proof and no reason to think like that.
She tried to push it from her mind, and soon she forgot all about it.
~0~0~0~
The next time she broke something, the Doctor noticed. Thankfully it was in the TARDIS, and they were once again alone, otherwise he knew he wouldn't have been as calm as he managed to stay.
Their bedroom was full of little bits of knick-knacks. Little treasures that she had collected over the years that were too good to stay in her old bedroom, and little things he had found her that she held dear. He'd never been into keeping souvenirs like she was, but it made her happy so he always made sure she'd gotten the best.
She'd been admiring a little figure of a dancing couple when it had happened. He hadn't even been paying much attention, if he was honest with himself, and he'd only known the item in question because she'd dropped it.
They'd been getting ready for the day, both on their side of the room where their clothes were. It had only been for a moment, but it was the longest moment he'd felt in a long time. An unfortunately familiar feeling to him from a previous body. He'd felt her disappear. Just for a moment, and by the time he'd spun around to see her she was back, but she'd gone. Erased from that moment of time, her presence had flickered like a flame and his hearts clenched painfully at the devastation of the feeling.
He turned, alarmed, just in time for the statue to bounce off the chest of drawers it had been sat on and smash into three large pieces. Danni was there, but she wobbled and he was by her side in a shot. One arm wrapped around her torso to keep her upright while she grabbed the other tightly.
"Are you okay?" he asked her urgently and she shook her head.
"I-I don't know what happened," she replied weakly. "I just- I don't remember letting go."
"It's okay," he reassured her. "Let's just sit you down."
He perched her on the edge of the bed before crouching between her legs so he could meet her eye. He made sure to smile reassuringly at her, keeping the panic inside as to not make hers any worse. "I'm just going to check you over," he told her. "Just sit tight."
He pulled out his screwdriver from the jacket he'd shrugged on before she'd disappeared, and only the slightest shake of his hand gave away his worry. If Danni noticed, though, she didn't say anything and let him scan her over.
It gave him nothing, which was incredibly annoying. While it might have reassured him to know nothing was wrong, instead it just worried him that it was something greater than he could detect. He let the screwdriver drop to the ground to cup her face with both hands.
"What do you remember?" he asked her as he tilted her head back, looking into her eyes as he did. "Did you see anything? Did you feel anything?"
She shook her head. "No I was just looking at the statue. Remember, you got me it when I didn't get to go with you, Amy and Rory to see the London Ballet?" He let her head fall back into a comfortable position, removing one hand to cup her face as tears gathered in her eyes. "I didn't mean to drop it, I don't remember dropping it. I'm sorry Theta, I loved it so much."
"I know," he quickly replied. "She'll probably fix it for you, don't worry."
She sniffed. "What happened?" she asked. "It happened in the kitchen too, remember? Is something wrong with me?"
"Definitely not," he promised although he really wasn't sure at all. "Come on, we'll get dressed and get going. No point hanging around."
She smiled, grateful that he was trying to keep her mind off what had happened. He always tried to hide his worry from her, and even though she knew he was concerned, she let him distract her. If it was urgent, he wouldn't hide it. "Are we picking up Clara today?"
"If you want to," he replied. "I don't know if she'd appreciate the beach I'm taking you to, though."
"Theta!"
~0~0~0~
The third time it happened, Clara didn't notice. She didn't notice that Danni flashed out of existence for one minutes and seventeen seconds. She didn't notice because, the moment she disappeared, so did any memory of her.
They were running down a hallway. A rather common occurrence that a lot of their companions would often complain about. Gunfire rang loudly in the hallway and they'd just dashed around yet another corner to escape it.
The Doctor came to a skidding halt, his eyes wide in panic. "Danielle?!" he cried out because he'd felt it. Yet again her presence being torn from the fabric of time rippled through him like pins and needles, all heading straight for his hearts.
Clara frowned as he ducked his head around the corner to see if she was still there. Hoping that he was mistaken, and that he'd just missed her falling behind and it was his mind's way of reminding him to check on her. A rogue bullet bounced off the corner above his head and he darted back around.
"Who's Danielle?" she asked in confusion before pointing at him rapidly. "Oh, oh, is she the little girl they're looking for?"
"Of course not," he snapped. "She's my wife, do keep up."
Clara wondered, for a moment, if the bullet had actually managed to graze his head without either of them noticing. "Did you get married without telling me?"
He rolled his eyes and Clara became rather irate by the way he looked incredibly exasperated at her questioning. "I don't know who Danielle is! And I'm sure you're making her up, so let's get going before we're, you know, shot!"
"Yes, you do," he retorted, ducking his head back around to check the situation. The soldiers were running towards them at full speed. At most they had another minute before they had to get moving. Luckily the ones who had been shooting at them had used long range guns and weren't an immediate threat. "And we can't move anywhere until Danielle comes back."
"What?" Clara exclaimed. "So, you're just going to stand here and get shot because you've decided you've got a wife?"
"I do have a wife," he replied factually and irritably. "She is coming back, and we're not leaving until she does."
"Fine," Clara snapped. "You stay here and get killed. I'm going to the TARDIS."
"Fine," the Doctor agreed quickly. "Have fun, I'm sure she'll keep you warm when she refuses to fly because you didn't wait for Danielle."
Clara growled at him. "I'm not waiting around for some… some figment of your…"
Clara trailed off as the Doctor's hearts sang in relief. Danielle reappeared in the hallway incredibly disorientated, and about six large strides away from him. She wobbled again, much like she had done the second time, but the Doctor was running out to catch her before she could fall.
"Run," he told her. "Now."
She nodded and they made their way behind the corner once again. Clara was staring at her like she couldn't believe she was stood in front of her. "You- You," she stuttered. "I forgot you. How did I forget you?"
"I don't know," the Doctor replied shortly. "But we have to run. Guns, soldiers, remember?"
~0~0~0~
They had all been distracted for the rest of the adventure. The Doctor had saved the day, of course he had. The little girl was reunited with her parents and the bad guys who had wanted to use her for their own end had been dealt with by the planet's own justice system. However, unlike normal, the victory wasn't celebrated. They'd all just headed back to the TARDIS is relative silence. It reminded Clara much more of a time when the adventure would have been less successful.
Danni had taken a seat when they'd all approached the console and the Doctor had shrugged off his jacket, draping it over her shoulders before he'd flown them away. He knew that she wasn't cold, but rather that it would give her the comfort she needed while he tried to search for the point when she'd been removed from time.
"What's happening to me?" she asked quietly, pulling his jacket tighter around her.
"I just forgot her," Clara added. "I mean, her disappearing is one thing, but it was like she'd never existed."
Danni looked absolutely horrified, a coldness falling on her as she shrunk into his jacket further. "I didn't exist?" she whispered.
"No," he replied sharply before catching himself at her whimper. "No, what I mean is that you did exist, but then you were erased."
She whimpered again and he knew that he wasn't helping at all. He turned back to face her, walking over and crouching much like he had done in the bedroom. He placed a hand on each of her legs and gently stroked her through her trousers with his thumbs. "I remembered you," he reassured gently. "And Clara did too, the moment you came back. We just have to work out what's causing these flickers in your timeline and put them out."
"Put them out?" she asked and he nodded.
"Just like that," he replied, like it was that simple. "You've just got a little bit of corrupted data, but it's easily fixed."
Her smile said that she believed him, although whether that was down to his fantastic reassurance skills or because she didn't want to think about it not working, he wasn't sure. But as he stood up and looked over her head at Clara, he could tell she hadn't bought it one bit.
~0~0~0~
Thanks for the lovely response to the prologue! I hope you liked this one as well! I wasn't sure if I was going to update because of the stupid problems this website has been having, but then I did it anyway XD
I don't think I'll answer reviews in this one unless there's something to answer. Like questions or something. Just know that I appreciate each and every one, and they keep me writing :)