'No rest for the wicked...' I thought, walking towards the console.
The Doctor was excitedly moving about, pushing up the right parts and twisting the rest. Martha watched, sitting in the pilot seat.
"Just one trip. That's what I said." The Doctor stated.
"You did say that, yeah." I mused, walking up behind him.
"One trip in the TARDIS, and then home." The Doctor agreed. He flipped a switch then looked to me. I gave him a gesture to go ahead. "Although I suppose we could stretch the definition."
Martha perked up.
"Take one trip into the past, one trip into the future." The Doctor offered. "How do you fancy that?"
"No complaints from me." Martha voted.
"Got nothing better to do." I added in.
The Doctor grinned at us both. He turned to the newest companion. "How about a different planet?" He offered.
"Can we go to yours?" Martha asked, wide eyed and full of glee.
The Doctor hesitated for a beat. I bit my lip, looking anywhere to avoid eye contact. "Ah, there's plenty of other places."
"Come on, though. I mean, planet of the Time Lords and Ladies." Martha suggested. "That's got to be worth a look. What's it like?"
"Well, it's beautiful, yeah." The Doctor confirmed hesitantly.
"...majestic." I agreed.
"Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?" Martha guessed.
The Doctor glanced up at me. He looked back to the console, flipping switches. "I suppose it is."
Martha was still going on, sounding happier and happier as she went. "Great big temples and cathedrals!"
"Yeah."
I worried the skin of my lip. There weren't many memories of Gallifrey in my head. A small handful, left from looking in the heart of the TARDIS. Nothing more than what the Doctor would give soon.
Martha turned towards me. I tensed as I realized her next question. "Lots of planets in the sky?"
My voice stuck. There wasn't anything I wanted to say here- nothing that came with the ease of experience. The memories were vague, not completely there. I was aware of them, could see them in my mind. It was like staring through foggy glass. Still the memories were mine. Sharing them left a bitter taste in my mouth.
"The sky's a burnt orange." The Doctor revealed to save me. Martha turned to him, leaning on the rail around the console. "With the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow."
Something not unlike nostalgia came through me. A fond smile appeared on my face, the vague memories becoming brighter at his words. The pictures were clearer to see- the city standing amidst red fields, looking like a snowglobe on standstill.
"Can we go there?" Martha asked.
"Nah. Where's the fun for us? We don't want to go home." The Doctor countered.
It stole the air from my lungs. The clarity of the memories faded back. They hid behind pain, past and present. The kind of pain that refused to come out until a rainy day.
"Instead, this is much better. Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth." The Doctor flipped another switch.
It sent the TARDIS to the side. I had to grip fast to a handrail to keep from flying.
"Second hope of mankind. Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New New York." The Doctor explained to Martha as the TARDIS landed. "Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."
The Doctor rushed to the doors. He threw them open for Martha. It was pouring rain outside.
I laughed.
"Oh, that's nice. Time Lord version of dazzling." Martha snarked.
"Ya darn right!" I ran out between them into the rain. The hood had been pulled over my head to keep out the rain. "Holy- Doc Brown the arrow is still in the door!" I laughed.
The Doctor and Martha walked out. Martha tried to block the rain with her hand. The Doctor glanced at the door. "So it is." The Doctor plucked the arrow from the wood of the door. "Well...bit of rain never hurt anyone. Come on, let's get under cover!"
The three of us rushed down the street. I enjoyed the rain, spinning and splashing about. The Doctor laughed with me.
"Well, it looks like the same old Earth to me, on a Wednesday afternoon." Martha joked again.
"Hold on, hold on. Let's have a look." The Doctor suggested. He ducked off to hide in front of a monitor. It had shelter.
Martha joined him.
I stayed just out of reach from the monitor's shelter. The rain was nice, okay? Got the smell of Elizabethean England off me.
The Doctor used the sonic to fix up the monitor. It showed the image of Sally Calypso.
"And the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway." The hologram reported. It showed an image of flying cars over a river, a bridge behind them and a hill with rolling grass.
"Oh, that's more like it. That's the view we had last time." The Doctor told me.
"Mmm, can still smell that apple grass." I grinned. "Does that mean we're in Downtown New New York?"
"Lower levels, must be." The Doctor confirmed. "Down in the base of the tower. Some sort of under-city. Wanna come in from the rain?"
"I'm good." I replied, sliding my hands into the hoodie pockets.
"You sure?" The Doctor asked.
"You've brought me to the slums?" Martha asked.
"Much more interesting." The Doctor countered. "It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city."
"You lot would enjoy anything." Martha teased.
"That's us." The Doctor took the teasing in delight. "Ah, the rain's stopping. Better and better."
"No!" I whined. The rain indeed slowed over my head. What a travesty. "Ugh. Is there a planet where it's raining all the time?"
"Vanriepra, year 12 million. Rained for a hundred years." The Doctor answered, shaking the rain out of his jacket and hair. "Became known as the Planet of the Rain Gods."
"There. We go there next." I decided.
The Doctor laughed. "Oh so picky. I take you to New New York and it's not enough for you?"
"It stopped raining." I pointed out to him.
"When you say last time, was that you, Terra, and Rose?" Martha asked, sounding suspicious.
The Doctor immediately became flustered.
"And if it was?" I asked Martha.
"You're taking me to the same planets that you took her?" Martha asked.
"It's the ones we're sure are still there." I answered. "He makes bad decisions, constantly. The privilege was revoked some time ago, which is why I decided our next go is Vanriepra, the Planet of the Rain Gods. Wait Rain Gods? Those are a thing? Why am I just now hearing about them?"
"Never came up." The Doctor dismissed. He composed himself enough to answer Martha. "What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing." Martha mumbled the next sentence, though it was still heard as the roar of the rain faded. "Just ever heard the word rebound?"
She barely made it three steps before the pharmacist opened his stall. He opened the window wide, propping it up.
"Oh! You should have said. How long you been there?" The man asked. He picked up a mood from his stash. "Happy. You want Happy."
Behind us, the two stalls beside the monitor opened. These were run by women- or at least they looked feminie.
"Customers. Customers! We've got customers!"
"We're in business. Mother, open up the Mellow, and the Read."
"Happy, Happy, lovely happy Happy!"
"Anger. Buy some Anger!"
"Get some Mellow. Makes you feel all bendy and soft all day long."
"Don't go to them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?"
"No, thanks." The Doctor answered flatly. He did a good job hiding his disgust.
I did a bad job. So long running from emotions, what makes these guys think I'd want to feel them by choice?
"Are they selling drugs?" Martha asked us.
"I think they're selling moods." The Doctor explained.
"Same thing, isn't it?" Martha countered.
"Close enough." I scoffed as one of the pharmacists held out what they called 'happy'.
A woman walked in, dressed in rags. She went over towards one of the pharmacist's stalls. "Over here, sweetheart! That's it, come on, I'll get you first!"
"Oi! Oi, you! Over here! Over here! Buy some Happy!" The male one shouted.
"Come over here, yeah. And what can I get you, my love?" Offered the pharmacist she'd actually gone to.
"I want to buy Forget." The woman requested.
"I've got Forget, my darling." The pharmacist answered. "What strength? How much do you want forgetting?"
My hand went to the Doctor's arm, squeezing it.
"It's my mother and father. They went on the motorway." The woman explained.
My grip tightened.
The Doctor kept his attention on the pharmacist and the woman in rags.
"Oh, that's a swine. Try this." The pharmacist held out a clear sticker. "Forget Forty three. That's two credits."
The woman gave them the credits. She held the sticker tight.
"Sorry, but hold on a minute. What happened to your parents?" The Doctor asked. He walked closer to the woman.
"They drove off." The woman revealed, seeming to think that explained everything.
"Yeah, but they might drive back." The Doctor offered.
"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them." The woman explained tragically.
"No you haven't." I explained. "They'll come back, of course they will, you don't-"
"No. No, no, don't." The Doctor tried to help me.
The woman stuck on 'Forget'. She blinked, her eyes going foggy for a moment. She looked to us in delighted confusion. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
"Your parents." I supplied, feeling numb myself.
The woman showed no sign of understanding what I was saying.
"Your mother and father." The Doctor tried. "They're on the motorway."
"Are they? That's nice." The woman replied. My shoulders slumped in defeat. "I'm sorry, I won't keep you." She left up the alley, vanishing into the shadows.
The Doctor put his hand over mine, still squeezing his arm.
'Who lets themselves forget like that?' I asked him. 'Just- she was so panicked, and now she has no idea what it means to go to the motorway or her parents leaving.'
'I don't know, Terra, but we'll find out.' The Doctor promised.
I let go of his arm. My hands to fell my side, defeated.
"So that's the human race five billion years in the future." Martha shook her head. "Off their heads on chemicals."
From the shadows behind her, two people jumped her. Milo grabbed Martha by the neck, dragging her back. Cheen held up the fake gun at us.
"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry. We just need three, that's all." Milo apologized. Impressive, over Martha's shrieks.
"No, let her go!" The Doctor shouted. "I'm warning you, let her go! Whatever you want, we can help. All of us, we can help. But first you've got to let her go."
"I'm about to shoot you back!" I warned, shouting with the Doctor. "So you let her go! I mean it! You think l won't? I've got aim like a boss! You'd be done before you could blink!"
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Sorry." Cheen apologized. Still, they dragged her away.
"Martha!" The Doctor and I yelled. We chased after them.
By the time we made it through the fog, found where they had gone, Milo and Cheen had vanished into the motorway with Martha Jones.
Like the world destroyers we were known as, we stormed back into Pharmacy Town. The Pharmacists has not even blinked at the theft.
"Thought you'd come back. Do you want some happy Happy?" They held out the sticker.
"Those people, who were they? Where did they take her?" The Doctor demanded.
"What are they going to do?" I demanded too.
"They've taken her to the motorway." A pharmacist answered.
"Looked like carjackers to me." Added another.
"I'd give up now, darlings. You won't see her again." Added the last.
"Used to be thriving, this place. You couldn't move. But they all go to the motorway in the end." The first pharmacist recalled.
"He said he needed three." I questioned. "Why just her? If he needed three, why not take us too?"
"It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel. You get special access if you're carrying three adults." The second pharmacist explained. "So just the three of them would do."
"This motorway. How do we get there?" The Doctor demanded to know.
"Straight down the alley, keep going to the end. You canna miss it." At her instruction, we started down the path. "Tell you what. How about some happy Happy? Then you'll be smiling, my love." The last pharmacist tried, sickly sweet.
The Doctor turned back. I wanted to yell in annoyance at him. There were better things to do than yell at pharmacists. The sooner we were on the motorway, the sooner we'd see the Face of Boe.
"Word of advice, all of you. Cash up, close down and pack your bags." The Doctor barked.
"Why's that, then?"
"Because as soon as we've found her, alive and well. And we will find her alive and well. Then we're coming back, and this street is closing tonight!" The Doctor snapped.
His threat given, he marched back with me.
'Feel better after your little tantrum?' I snarked.
The Doctor rolled his eyes as we ran down the alley. 'Yes.'
==ROTF==
There was a metal door to the entrance of the motorway. The Doctor threw it open. The smog drifted in. I lifted my hoodie sleeve over my mouth, breathing through it as I stepped onto the lay-by. The Doctor shut the door behind him.
The motorway was huge. Stretching on for a seemingly endless lanes of flying cars, all stacked atop and beside each other. The lanes were packed bumper to bumper. The definition of a gridlock- hence the episode title. Worse yet was the heavy thick smog. I could barely see five lines over, before the fog covered up lane six.
The Doctor started coughing. I did too. The smog was getting through the hoodie.
The closest flying car opened it's door. Brannigan stood inside, his face covered with a mask.
"Hey! You daft little street struts." He called out. "What are you doing standing there? Either get out or get in. Come on!"
The Doctor and I ran to the car, jumping in. Brannigan slammed the door shut.
"Did you ever see the like?" Brannigan asked his wife. He took off his mask, revealing his feline features.
Valerie, his very human wife, handed us small gas masks. "Here you go."
I accepted it. Breathing into it, I got the smog from my lungs. The Doctor did the same by my side.
"Just standing there, breathing it in." Brannigan remarked in disbelief. "There's this story, says back in the old days, on Junction forty seven, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid twenty minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to fifty feet."
"Oh, you're making it up." Valerie scoffed.
"A fifty foot head!" Brannigan confirmed. He went back over to his seat, as I took deeper breaths of clean air. "Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose." Brannigan
"Oh, stop it. That's disgusting." Valerie shook her head again.
"What, did you never pick your nose?" Brannigan
Valerie rolled her eyes. She was looking out the window, spotting something. "Bran, we're moving."
"Right. I'm there. I'm on it." Brannigan pushed down on the gear shift. It bumped us forward. "Twenty yards. We're having a good day. And who might you lot be? Very well-dressed for hitchhikers."
I lowered the mask, gratefully breathing easy. The Doctor handed the masks back to Valerie.
"Thanks. Sorry, I'm the Doctor, and this is Terra." The Doctor introduced.
"Howdy." I greeted, taking another deep breath but of relief.
"Medical man! My name's Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie." Brannigan introduced, beaming at his wife.
"Nice to meet you." I nodded my head to her. "Thank ya kindly for the air."
Valerie smiled. "You're welcome."
"And that's the rest of the family behind you." Brannigan motioned behind the curtain behind us.
The Doctor pulled it open.
"Oh my Story." I gawked, seeing the tiny baby kittens in a basket behind us. "They're adorable! They got any names?"
"Yes." Valerie sat on her knees, pointing at the kitten that said Mama so sweetly it melted one of my hearts. "That's Emily." The black kitten with white paws. "Monty." An all black kitten. "Lorri." The white kitten. "Leyton." The light brown one. "And Brannigan Junior."
I picked up Monty, brushing on his coat. "Aw! He's so cute!" Babies plus animals equals Terra's Kryptonite. "Hi there Little Monty. Who's a good kittie?" The little kitten purred against my hand. My second heart melted. "Sorry. I can't think when I'm holding a baby. It just doesn't work!"
"How old are they?" The Doctor asked, picking up little Lorri.
"Just two months." Valerie answered.
"Poor little souls. They've never known the ground beneath their paws. Children of the motorway." Brannigan revealed, all wistful.
"What, they were born in here?" The Doctor asked.
"You are so cute." I cooed. Monty rubbed his head against my hand. "Who's so cute? You're so cute." The kitten purred at the praise.
"We couldn't stop. We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries on Fire Island. Thought we'd take a chance." Valerie explained.
"What, you've been driving for two months?" The Doctor asked, gobsmacked.
"Do I look like a teenager? We've been driving for twelve years now." Brannigan answered.
"I'm sorry?" The Doctor double-checked.
"Yeah! Started out as newlyweds. Feels like yesterday." Brannigan told his wife.
"Feels like twelve years to me." Valerie replied.
Brannigan laughed. "Ah, sweetheart, but you're still love me."
"Twelve years? How far did you come? Where did you start?" The Doctor asked.
"Battery Park. It's five miles back." Brannigan answered.
"You travelled five miles in twelve years?" The Doctor asked.
"Has traffic actually gotten worse? Never thought I'd see it." I pondered. Monty meowed, complaining. "Aw, am I not giving you enough attention?" The kitten purred again as I brushed along his back.
"I think they're a bit slow." Brannigan commented to his wife.
"Where are the two of you from?" Valerie asked.
"Never mind that. We've got to get out." The Doctor put Lorri back down with her siblings. "Our friend's in one of these cars. She was taken hostage. We should get back to the TARDIS."
The Doctor went for the door. I jumped back, holding Monty against my chest. He swung it open, letting the smog back in. The Doctor jumped back when he spotted the lay-by gone. He closed the door.
"You're too late for that. We've passed the lay-by." Brannigan explained. "You're passengers now, Sonny Jim."
"I am the most perfect of babysitters." I told them, walking over to the other kittens. "Hello there everybody!"
"When's the next lay-by?" The Doctor asked.
"Oh, six months?" Brannigan answered.
I lowered Monty back with the crowd. Junior was sounding ussy so I picked him up. "You are too cute. All of you. No wonder your parents are on the run- your cuteness is illegal."
Junior just meowed, clearly having no idea what I was saying.
==ROTF==
Brannigan and Valeria were nice enough to let the Doctor used their car phone. I was holding Layton and Monty now. He had missed me.
"I need to talk to the police." The Doctor stated immediately after the call was accepted.
"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold." The message said.
"But you're the police!" The Doctor argued.
"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold." The message repeated.
"Is there anyone else?" The Doctor asked Brannigan. "We once met the Duke of Manhattan. Is there any way of getting through to him?"
"Oh now, ain't you lordly?" Brannigan snarked.
"I've got to find our friend." The Doctor stressed.
"You can't make outside calls. The motorway's completely enclosed." Valerie explained.
"What about the other cars?" The Doctor asked.
"Oh, we've got contact with them, yeah. Well, some of them, anyway. They've got to be on your friends list. Now, let's see. Who's nearby? Ah, the Cassini sisters!" Brannigan picked up the receiver, cheering into it. "Still your hearts, my handsome girls. It's Brannigan here."
"Get off the line, Brannigan. You're a pest and a menace." Alice stated.
I laughed. My arms were moving up and down, playing the 'am I gonna drop you? No I'm not you just fell really fast' game with the kittens. They were loving it.
"Oh, come on, now, sisters. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?" Brannigan asked.
"You know full well we're not sisters. We're married." Alice reminded him.
"Ooo, stop that modern talk. I'm an old-fashioned cat." Brannigan corrected. Valerie laughed fondly. I tossed Monty up in the air, deftly catching him. The kitten meowed in delight. Layton meowed impatiently- as did the other kitten watching it all go down. "Now, I've got a couple of hitchhikers here, one calls himself the Doctor and his lady friend's called Terra Johnson."
"Hello. Sorry." The Doctor stepped up. He snatched the receiver from Brannigan's hand. Valerie looked back, watching as I tossed Layton in the air then caught him. She smiled too as her children laughed. "I'm looking for someone called Martha Jones. She's been carjacked. She's inside one of these vehicles, but I don't know which one."
"Wait a minute. Could I ask, what entrance did they use?" May asked.
"Where were we?" The Doctor asked.
"Pharmacy Town." Brannigan answered.
"Pharmacy Town, about twenty minutes ago."
"Let's have a look." May replied.
"Just my luck to marry a car-spotter." Alice complained.
"In the last half hour, fifty three new cars joined from the Pharmacy Town junction." May reported.
"Anything more specific?" The Doctor asked.
"All in good time. Was she carjacked by two people?" May asked.
I put down Monty and Layton, picking up Emily and Lorri. Time for them to have fun. They laughed too as I continued the game with them.
"Yes, she was, yeah." The Doctor confirmed.
"There we are. Just one of those cars was destined for the fast lane. That means they had three on board. And car number is four six five diamond six." May reported.
"That's it! So how do we find them?" The Doctor asked.
"Ah. Now there I'm afraid I can't help." May admitted.
"Call them on this thing. We've got their number. Diamond six." The Doctor told Brannigan,
"But not if they're designated fast lane. It's a different class." Brannigan explained.
"You could try the police." May suggested.
"They- put- us- on- hold." I explained, tossing and catching the kittens.
"You'll have to keep trying. There's no one else." Alice told us.
"Thank you." The Doctor replied. He hung up the receiver. He turned to me, eyes widening. "What are you doing?"
"Babysitting." I explained, catching both kittens. They were still laughing- in this cute little way that cat-babies could do apparently. I regret never having heard it before. "Who wants to go again?"
Emily meowed an affirmative. Lorri pushed her head against my hand. So I put her down, picking up Junior.
"Okay. One...two...three!" I tossed up Junior. He shrieked as he fell, meowing loudly when I caught him. I copied the entire thing with Emily. The kitten shrieked in delight.
"Yes...shouldn't we be focused on other things?"
"You're doing enough worrying for our entire species." I replied. I put down Emily, all in the spirit of fairness. Junior was getting a few more toss ups. Jack was gonna love hearing about this. "Call me when you're done running around like a headless chicken. Ready, Junior?"
The kitten confirmed.
"One. Two." I lightly tossed him up. "Three!"
He laughed as I caught him again. All the kittens cheered.
"Next round!"
"Aw, it's good to hear them laugh." Brannigan admitted. He was smiling brightly as I picked up Monty again. "Sure that's alright?"
"Not to worry, Mr Brannigan. I'm a classically trained babysitter." I assured him. Literally, classical. I've seen a lot of royals grow up. Somewhere along the way I must've picked up the skill set. Or it came naturally. I'm going to for naturally. "Besides, these kittens are just so sweet. Alright Monty...one...two-"
Monty laughed as he was tossed up again.
The Doctor watched me work. Clearly, his mind was many lanes down below us, but he kept his eyes on me.
==ROTF==
"Where's Terra?" I asked, covering my eyes Weeping-Angel style.
The kittens meowed in confusion.
"Here I am!" I cheered, moving the hands back.
The meowing was in delight now. One of them was calling out to Mama, trying to make her see.
"We've got to go to the fast lane. Take us down." The Doctor ordered.
"Not a million years." Brannigan replied. He didn't sound peppy or cheery anymore. This was stern.
"You've got four passengers." The Doctor pointed out to him. "Fastlane needs three right? More than enough."
"I'm still not going." Brannigan insisted.
"I'm asking you, Brannigan, take us down." The Doctor requested.
"That's a no. And that's final. I'm not risking the children down there." Valerie stated.
His eyes widened. "Why not? What's the risk? What happens down there?" The Doctor nearly yelled.
"We're not discussing it. The conversation is closed." Valerie snapped.
"So we keep on driving." The Doctor growled.
"Yes, we do." Brannigan replied as if that was all the conversation needed.
"For how long?" Oh no. The Doctor was going into his rants again.
"Till the journey's end." Brannigan stated.
The Doctor made a move for the receiver.
"Doctor." I stated. Standing up, I grabbed his arm. Yanking it away from the receiver I forced him to turn back.
"Terra this isn't the time-" He seethed.
'Do not scare these people.' I ordered him. His eyes widened at the command. I glared at him, making sure to look him in the eyes. 'I mean it. These people are innocent in all of this. They don't know any better. I won't have you scaring our nice hosts or their friends!'
'Terra. We can't lose her!' The Doctor argued sternly.
'Then we won't. And we won't get any close to finding her if you keep on like this!'
'At least I'm trying!' The Doctor snapped. 'You're sitting around, playing games instead of helping!'
'How I cope with stress has nothing to do with this!' I countered at him. 'Give it a minute! We're not going to lose-'
'Last time you said that, we lost her!' The Doctor ranted.
I stopped. The expression on my face melted away to blankness.
'We lost her. She fell away and we- she's gone now. We can't lose somebody else. Not like this.' The Doctor ranted on. 'And there's nothing this time. Nothing. No police to come save her, no people from the other side, no deus ex machina from what I can see. If we do nothing she'll be gone!'
Of course, oh of course. This entire city was full of memories of Rose. Worse yet, it was still a fresh wound to him. Looking back I can see how Milo pulling Martha into the fog cold resemble Pete catching Rose. New New Earth wasn't kind to us.
Now that I was seeing it I couldn't unsee it.
There was a lot about that day I could never unsee.
But I needed to be here, in this moment. Just like back then. The Doctor needed me.
'I see now.' I told him.
'No you don't. If you did, you'd be doing some- anything!' The Doctor argued.
I let him have that. Not cause he was right, but with Time Lords you had to pick your battles. 'Okay. Okay, I'll help. Doctor you need to calm down. It won't help Martha if you're like this.'
Saying her name, reminding him that this wasn't Rose that was missing, seemed to bring something in him back. He relaxed from that Rose-tinted panic. 'Martha. Yes. We have to save Martha.'
'And we will. But not if you don't calm down, okay?'
'Okay.'
'Do you trust me?' I asked.
'You know I do.' The Doctor replied. He leaned against the side of the car, just taking a breath to get himself back to rights.
"Good then." I pulled away from the conversation, back to the car. I turned to our kind hosts. "Sorry. We're a bit high-strung."
"What was that, then?" Brannigan asked, pointing between the Doctor and I.
"Our species are telepaths." I explained to Brannigan. "So you just witnessed us arguing. It looks weird on the outside, I know. So tell me, Mr Brannigan, how long has the motorway been opened?"
"Oh, I'd say about 23 years." Brannigan answered. "That's when the Cassini Sisters went out- they were some of the first."
"Wow, what an update." I remarked. Leaning on his and her chair, I glanced out the window to the smog. "Is there a way out of the motorway? Not the lay-bys, I mean genuinely a way out? Or, no I'm saying it wrong, a way in for the police?"
Neither of them could answer that.
"That's alright. Thank ya kindly." I stated. "By your faces I'm saying no. Why, of course not- Children of the Motorway. I bet you had to have those kittens right there in the backseat. No ambulances either. All these cars looked the same out there- not one emergency car among them. I'm sorry to be saying all of this, truly I am, it's distressing you. There's a reason behind that negligence- and by the Author I'm going to find it and formally submit a complaint. You haven't been abandoned, I can see that clear as day. Someone had done something wrong."
The receiver flipped on. Sally Calypso the hologram turned back on. "This is Sally Calypso, and it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic, the perfect setting for the daily contemplation."
"You're right, little lass." Brannigan agreed. "We're not abandoned. Not while we have each other."
"This is for all of you out there on the roads. We're so sorry. Drive safe." The hologram encouraged.
A silence followed. The screen buzzed, playing out a hymn style melody.
"On a hill, far away, stood an old, rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame." The people of the motorway sang. All the lanes, above and below and beside. "And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown."
The hymn continued on. I listened, humming along with them.
==ROTF==
"Doctor. The solution to our problem is obvious." I stated, when the hymn faded off. The Doctor kept himself leaning against the door. "If they won't take us down, then we take ourselves down."
I walked over to the kitten's little nook, kneeling down.
"Oh brilliant." The Doctor told me, understanding what the idea was.
"What do you think you're doing?" Brannigan asked, confused.
The Doctor came to my side, kneeling down. He brought out the sonic, using it on the door. "Finding our own way. We usually do."
I pulled the door open.
"Capsule open." The car reported.
"Here we go." The Doctor commented. He took off his coat. I set myself up for the drop down. He handed his coat to Valerie. "Look after this. I love that coat. Janis Joplin gave me that coat."
A car pulled up below us. My legs were dangling from the opening of the car as I prepared to jump down.
"But you can't jump!" Valerie gawked.
"There's a car there- we'll be fine." I excused.
"If it's any consolation, Valerie, right now, I'm having kittens." The Doctor admitted.
"This Martha. She must mean an awful lot to you." Brannigan noted.
"She's great." I replied. "We don't know here nearly as well as we should. There's a lot better we could've done."
"We hardly know her." The Doctor agreed. "We were too busy showing off. And we lied to her. Couldn't help it, just lied. Bye then."
I jumped down, hitting the car below. The smog hit hard and fast. I moved aside to let the Doctor land. He sonicked open the car door, jumping in. I followed.
This car was much less packed. It had only one man, and he had pasty white skin. The kind you only get from being painted on.
"Who the hell are you?" The man asked, alarmed.
"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol." The Doctor lied quickly. "We're doing a survey. How are you enjoying your motorway?"
"Well, not very much." The man commented, now treating this as a normal occasion. "Junction Five's been closed for three years."
"We thank you for your helpful comments!" I replied, swinging the trapdoor open. "Good day, sir!"
I jumped down. There wasn't a car yet, so I had to grab onto the edges. The Doctor joined me.
The car pulled up before long. I fell down with the Doctor. He opened the latch, so I jumped in.
This was one colorful- packed with lots of rugs and scarves hung up on the walls. I gave them the same lie about the survey. They were too stunned to say anything.
"Thank you for your cooperation. Your comments have been noted." The Doctor plucked up two scarves. "Do you mind if I borrow this? Not my color, here you go." He handed me the purple one. I tied it around my face, letting him jump down first. He tied a green one around his face. "But thank you very much."
The next car had two nudists living in it. A surprise for everyone involved. I politely kept my focus on the door.
There was a lot of lanes before the express lane.
==ROTF==
After another ten cars, we made it to the last lane before the express. The scarf had done a good job keeping out the smog. They lasted until the last car, so go for us.
This car was being driven by a gentleman looking man. Complete with bowler hat, and black pinstripe suit.
"Excuse me, is that legal?" He asked us.
"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol." The Doctor waved his hand, coughing into his scarf. "Whatever. Have you got any water?"
"Certainly. Never let it be said I've lost my manners." He handed a water to myself first, than a second cup to the Doctor.
I gave him a polite nod before popping the glass down.
"Is this the last layer?" The Doctor asked, coughing.
"We're right at the bottom." The gentleman confirmed. "Nothing below us but the fast lane."
"Can we drive down? We've got three." The Doctor requested.
"I suppose we could, yes." The gentleman considered.
It hit me in a flash. The Doctor wanted to drive down! No way was I going down to the Macra!
I went to the Doctor, pulling the sonic out from his grip. He let me do it. I pointed it at the trapdoor.
"What are you doing?" The Doctor asked.
"You can't jump. It's a thousand feet down."
"Can't you hear it?" I countered. The gentleman tensed. "I just need to look."
The door opened. A loud growl came up from the smog cloud below.
The Doctor turned to our pilot. "What's that noise?"
"I try not to think about it." The gentleman admitted. He looked to the open door, fear in his eyes.
I coughed as smog floated up. "Are those lights- no...too much movement, too close together and apart...those are eyes?"
The Doctor came to my side. He looked down the hatch. He looked confused at what was down there. "What's down there? I just need to see." He grabbed the sonic from my hand, rushing to the computer screen of the car. "There must be some sort of ventilation. If I could just transmit a pulse through this thing, maybe I could trip the system, give us a bit of a breeze."
He held the sonick against the screen. After a moment, a lower panel popped open. The Doctor pulled out a few wires, twisting them about like he was hot wiring the thing.
"That's it!" He cheered. He ran back to the opening. "Might shift the fumes a bit, give us a good look."
The gentleman joined us looking down. The air began blowing below. It was enough to make a small air pocket for us to see what was down there.
"What are those shapes?" The gentleman asked.
"They're alive." The Doctor stated.
"Yeah, the growls kinda spoiled that." I snarked.
A large claw snapped up from the air cloud. It cleared more of the smog away, showing off the other snapping claws.
"What the hell are they?" The gentleman asked, disgusted and horrified.
"They look like crabs." I noted.
"Macra." The Doctor realized. "The Macra used to be the scourge of this galaxy. Gas. They fed off gas, the filthier the better. They built up a small empire using humans as slaves and mining gas for food."
"Giant crabs took over the galaxy?" I questioned.
"Well, that was billions of years ago. Billions." The Doctor excused. "They must have devolved down the years. Now they're just beasts. But they're still hungry and my friend's down there."
A metallic clank went up on the roof.
"Oh, it's like New Times Square in here, for goodness's sake!" The gentleman huffed.
The capsule opened. A cat woman dropped from the hole. Novice Hame come to visit.
"Terra, you've invented a sport." The Doctor remarked.
"Curses!"
Novice Hame beamed at us. Though I gave her a cold stare in greeting. "Doctor, Terra, you're hard people to find."
"No guns. I'm not having guns." The gentleman stated, pointing at the large rifle across Hame's back.
"I only brought this in case of pirates." Hame hissed at him. "Doctor, Terra, you've got to come with me."
"Do I know you?" The Doctor asked.
"Novice Hame." I stated flatly.
The cat woman smiled, demure. "You haven't aged at all. Time has been less kind to me."
"Novice Hame!" The Doctor cheered. He went in for a hug, just as quickly pulling away. "No, hold on, get off. Last time we met, you were breeding humans for experimentation."
The gentleman's eyes widened in shock. Better than any entertainment he was gonna get here, eh?
"I've sought forgiveness, Doctor, for so many years, under his guidance." Hame pleaded. "And if you come with me, I might finally be able to redeem myself."
I walked up to her. "Still work for that old face?"
"Yes." Hame answered.
I raised my arm.
"We're not going anywhere, Terra. You've got Macra living underneath this city. Macra!" The Doctor pushed my arm down. I lifted it back up. "And if our friend's still alive, she's stuck down there."
"You both need to come with me right now." Hame took hold of my arm.
"No, no, no, you're coming with us. We've got more than enough passengers now." The Doctor commanded. "We can go down there, find Martha before these things-"
"I'm sorry, Doctor. But the situation is even worse than you can imagine." Hame lashed out to grab him arm. "Transport."
A bracelet on his wrist glowed green. It spread of our bodies.
"Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" The Doctor snapped.
We still popped off.
==ROTF==
Mother
Fuckin'
Damned
Author
Storyline
That hurt.
Groaning in pain, I pushed myself up.
"Oh! Rough teleport. Ow." The Doctor complained.
"My bones- they ache." I groaned.
Hame just let out a quiet meow.
The Doctor was the first on his feet. "You can go straight back down and teleport people out, starting with Martha."
Hame stood up also. She looked at him, now looking stressed. "I only had the power for one trip."
"Then get some more!" The Doctor demanded.
I stepped in. "Where are we?"
"High above, in the over-city." Hame answered.
The Doctor "Good. Because you can tell-"
I clapped my hand over his mouth. "So this is the Senate then?"
"Yes." Hame answered, somber. The Doctor froze beneath my hand. She went to her bracelet, pressing a button. It turned on the lights in the room. Sure enough it was a very official looking room. Only the seats were filled with skeletons. "May the goddess Santori bless them." She prayed. She turned to us. "They died. The city died."
I lowered my hand. "How long's it been like this?" He walked over to a skeleton that had fallen from the bleachers above.
"Twenty four years." Hame answered.
"All of them? Everyone? What happened?" The Doctor asked.
"A new chemical. A new mood. They called it Bliss." She knelt down to the skeleton, taking the sticker off it's neck. "Everyone tried it. They couldn't stop. A virus mutated inside the compound and became airborne. Everything perished. Even the virus, in the end. It killed the world in seven minutes flat. There was just enough time to close down the walkways and the flyovers, sealing off the under-city. Those people on the motorway aren't lost, Doctor. They were saved."
"So the whole thing down there is running on automatic." The Doctor reasoned.
"There's not enough power to get them out." Hame confirmed. "We did all we could to stop the system from choking."
"He is here then?" I asked. Before Hame could answer I walked up the hall. "Don't bother! I'll just follow the smell of jackass."
"Terra hold on. Who's we?" The Doctor asked Hame. I continued walking, turning a corner. "How did you survive?"
I gawked at the figure down the hall. He stared back at me, not saying anything. I was fighting the urge to fall to my knees, sobbing.
"He protected me. And he has waited for you, these long years." Hame
"Terra." The Face of Boe greeted me.
"Jackass." I whispered, walking up to the glass. When the Doctor rushed into the space, I had my hand against the glass.
"The Face of Boe!" The Doctor realized..
"Always interrupts, doesn't he?" I teased, though it fell flat from my mouth.
The Face of Boe kept looking at me as the Doctor approached. "I knew you would come."
"Why wouldn't I?" I asked him. "Getting slow in your old age, thinkin' I'd ditch."
The Face smiled- too old and frail and tired to even laugh with me. Didn't my hearts just break all over again.
"Back in the old days, I was made his nurse as penance for my sin." Hame revealed.
"Old friend, what happened to you?" The Doctor asked.
"A failing." The Face of Boe answered.
"He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke." Hame explained.
'Still into saving people, huh Jackass?' I asked him.
The Face of Boe sent me a mental feeling of mirth.
"But with no one to maintain it, the City's power died." Hame went on. "The under-city would have fallen into the sea."
"So he saved them." The Doctor stated.
"The Face of Boe wired himself into the mainframe." Sure enough, behind the Face of Boe dozens of wires were connecting his tank to the electrical system. "He's giving his life force just to keep things running."
"But there are planets out there. You could have called for help." The Doctor pointed out.
"She said it was a virus." I reasoned. "Guessing everybody else knows, huh?
"The last act of the Senate was to declare New Earth unsafe. The automatic quarantine lasts for one hundred years." Hame confirmed.
"You stayed here, all alone." I mumbled, pressing my hand against the glass. The Face of Boe let out a tired hum.
"All these years." The Doctor added, just as somber.
"We had no choice." Hame stated.
"Yes, you did." The Doctor countered.
"Save them, Terra." The Face of Boe pleaded. "Save them."
"For you, I just might." I agreed, with an old fond smile.
The Face of Boe let out a gasp, eyes widening. My palm pressed on the glass again.
So I would save New New York, all for Jack 'Face of Boe' Harkness.
==ROTF==
I was working on the various computers setup around the Face of Boe's head. There was a lot of information here- still only one thing I needed to find. Or that the Doctor wanted me to find.
Myself, personally, wanted to talk to Jack. Just talk, endlessly forever and ever because nothing else mattered. Just having a few more conversations with him as his life faded away. He was probably dying over and over again to keep this city alive. I was losing my mind watching it- hearing his gasps as I worked.
He was going to leave soon.
My friend would die his final death.
It's not fair.
It's not fair!
Why is this always happening, huh? Why is it always my friends that die but the Doctor's that end up okay!?
Jack can't die.
He just can't.
I don't-
I need him.
I need Jack.
I need someone to tell this all to.
Someone who knows and understands it all.
Someone who would help me see past Saxon.
Just...I need a friend.
I need them.
Anything to help me fight this feeling inside- an emptiness that hadn't faded- a new scar that infected the rest of me to be empty too.
Jack would help.
Jack always helped me.
I don't deserve a friend like Jack.
"Car four six five diamond six. It still registers!" The Doctor announced loudly.
It jarred my thoughts back to New Earth, back to the crisis on my hands. I went back to work on the cords and moving them about.
"That's Martha. I knew she was good!"
"Doctor hold this!" I dropped a set of cords, following it up to it's plug. The Doctor came over, pressing down on it. "You see where I'm going?
"Oh you clever thing. Take the residual energy, invert it, feed it through the electricity grid. Terra you beauty!" The Doctor complimented.
"Yeah so hold it steady!" I told him.
"There isn't enough power." Hame excused.
"Oh, you've got power. You've got us." The Doctor dismissed. I flipped switches, working on a plane to save Martha. Saving her would have to do. Anything right now that would keep the Face of Boe alive. "We're brilliant with computers, just you watch."
"Doctor. Every switch on that bank up to maximum!" I ordered him.
The Doctor did so. "We can't power up the city, but all the city needs is people."
"So what are you going to do?" Hame asked.
"Let's see!" I threw a big switch.
The lights went out.
My hearts did too.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." The Doctor bemoaned. "The transformers are blocked. The signal can't get through." The Doctor started sonicking the controls.
I glared a warning at the Face of Boe. "Don't do it."
"Terra."
"I mean it, don't you dare."
"I give you my last-" The Face of Boe took a strained breath.
"No stop!"
The lights turned back on.
"Terra, some help! Hame, look after him." The Doctor instructed. I couldn't look away from him. Not as he was dying before my eyes. "Don't you go dying on us, you big old face. You've got to see this. The open road. Ha!"
More switches were flipped.
More cheers were had.
Lots of sounds happened. They passed over my ears in a blur.
I knelt in front of the Face of Boe. My palm moved to the glass.
"Terra." The Face of Boe spoke, ever so softly in my mind. Weaker by the moment. "It had to be done. Forgive me, old friend."
"Always." I replied to him. My eyes were wet now, fighting back tears. "You stupid man. What am I going to do with you?"
He sent a wave of something to my mind- the feeling of a smile that didn't want to be a goodbye just yet.
I was giving him that same smile.
==ROTF==
"Sorry, no Sally Calypso. She was just a hologram." The Doctor spoke into a camera. "My name's the Doctor, and this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now."
I hadn't moved.
"We've opened the roof of the motorway. Come on."
What reason was there to?
"Throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you."
The Face of Boe was dying.
"The whole under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up! Fast!"
Right before my eyes.
"We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way."
Sure, in modern times, Captain Jack Harkness thriving at barely three centuries old.
"Oi! Car four six five diamond six. Martha! Drive up!"
But this one...he was dying.
"You've got access above. Now go!"
The Doctor clicked off the receiver. He connected it to another place, by the voice that came next.
The Face of Boe's breathing was getting slower.
"Did I tell you, Doctor? You're not bad, sir." Brannigan laughed. "You're not bad at all! Oh, yee-hah! And tell that Terra of your's that too!"
Hame was still working. She respected my silence, working around me.
"You keep driving, Brannigan. All the way up. Because it's here, just waiting for you. The city of New New York, and it's yours." The Doctor cheered. "And don't forget I want that coat back."
"I reckon that's a fair bargain, sir."
"And Car four six five diamond six, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate." The Doctor instructed.
"On my way." Martha replied with a giddy laugh of relief.
"It's been quite a while since we last saw you, Martha Jones." The Doctor joked.
"Is Terra alright? Where is she?"
A crack appeared on his glass casing.
"Doctor!" I yelled, panicking.
The Doctor shot towards me, fearing the worst.
The crack grew and grew. It stretched around the glass until it was about to shatter.
The Doctor grabbed my arm. He pulled me away from the oncoming debris.
When the dusts of it settled, the Face of Boe was lying amidst the cables. I went back to kneeling in front of him. Every part of me wanted to reach out and hug him. It wouldn't make it easier. He would still be-
He was still-
"Terra?" Martha called out. "Doctor?"
"Over here." The Doctor replied.
"What happened out there-" Martha walked into the space.
I kept my focus on his eyes. He did the same.
"It's the Face of Boe." The Doctor gestured to the large head. "It's all right. Come and say hello. And this is Hame. Don't worry. He's the one that saved you, not me."
Martha knelt by my side. I lifted my hand, hesitating to brushing it on his cheek.
"My lord gave his life to save the city, and now he's dying." Hame mourned.
"No, don't say that. Not old Boe. Plenty of life left." The Doctor dismissed.
"He's not-" I choked on the rest of the sentence.
"It's good to breathe air once more." The Face of Boe admitted.
"Who is he, though? You never said." Martha pointed out.
"Our friend. A really, really old friend." I admitted. My hand touched his cheek. The Face of Boe took a deep breath, eyes shuttering for a moment. I feared he'd died until they opened up again.
"I don't even know." The Doctor told Martha. "Legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Isn't that right? And you're not about to give up now."
"Everything has its time. You know that, old friends, better than most." The Face of Boe countered.
"The legend says more." Hame reminded.
"Don't. There's no need for that." The Doctor scolded sternly.
"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secrets to two travellers." Hame explained.
"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?" The Doctor dismissed again.
"I have seen so much. Perhaps too much." The Face of Boe recalled. He looked away from me, to the Doctor. "I am the last of my kind, as you are the last of yours, Doctor, Terra."
Martha turned to us, confused at the Face of Boe's meaning. She saw our expressions and understood.
"That's why we have to survive. All of us. Don't go." The Doctor requested.
"You're not allowed to go yet, you got me?" I told him, the words clawing up from my throat. "You're not."
"I must." He insisted. "But know this, Terra, look in the tiger's den. And Doctor. You. Are. Not. Alone." The Face of Boe spoke his dying words.
I held the Doctor's hand, wanting to cry.
He squeezed it back.
And so the Face of Boe, the last of the Boeshane Peninsula, Captain of Torchwood Three, knower of the Year That Never Was, friend of Terra Johnson, breathed his last.
==ROTF==
We were back in Pharmacy Town. The Doctor had carried through on his threat. The entire street was closed.
"All closed down." The Doctor noted, as he threw on his Janis Joplin brown coat.
"Happy?" Martha asked.
"Happy happy." he joked. Martha laughed. I let out a breath that could be mistaken for a laugh. "New New York can start again. And they've got Novice Hame." The Doctor pointed out to me, with an infectious smile of which I was immune. "Just what every city needs. Cats in charge. Come on, time we were off." He walked towards the TARDIS. "We've got Vanriepra to see."
It doesn't matter.
Nothing does.
It's all useless anyway.
We always come back to there.
"But what did he mean, the Face of Boe?" Martha asked, innocently trying to lead us to the answers. "You're not alone. And that thing with the tiger?"
You. Are. Not. Alone.
Professor Yana.
The Doctor glanced at me. I looked down at my shoes, clutching my Bag tight to my side. "I don't know."
Vote Saxon!
It's all your fault! You all voted for him!
"You've got me. Is that what he meant?" Martha asked, with a helpful smile.
"I don't think so." The Doctor reasoned. Martha's smile dropped. "Sorry."
"Then what?" Martha insisted on knowing.
Chan-who are you-tho?
I am-
"Doesn't matter." The Doctor countered. "Back to the TARDIS, off we go."
With that, I grabbed the chair Martha was gonna use. I set it out and sat down. I probably looked like a five year old.
"All right, are you staying?" The Doctor asked me.
I braced myself. "You don't get to yell at me."
The Doctor tensed.
"Not when I was- I was only playing with kids. You don't get to yell at me for that." I scolded him. The Doctor took this scolding, silent. "It's-" I swallowed a grieving sob back down my throat.
"She's just a kid. It shouldn't be up to her to stop you. It can't all be on her. That's not fair."
"It's not my job to...to keep you from scaring people." I stated. My voice shook in the middle as I tried to push through. "That's not fair."
The Doctor seemed to be remembering the same thing I was. The sadness in his brown eyes was heavier. "I know."
"So don't- don't make me do it again. Cause it- it scares me too." I admitted. "Seeing you like that- it scares me too."
"I'm sorry." He apologized. "You don't deserve that."
"I don't." I agreed. So I braced myself, leaning back in the chair. "Or were you just like that because they were kittens? Doctor I can bond with any brand of animal. Pig, horse, cat, dog-"
"I'm not taking you back for it." The Doctor stated, fighting a smile.
"He was my son, not an 'it'. I just lost a good friend. A dog would help sooth my grief." I countered.
The Doctor gave me a look.
"Fine...for now." I groaned. Climbing up from the chair, I gestured to it. "Martha, your turn in the chair of power."
The doctor in training look startled. I gave her a pointed look, motioning to the chair again. Martha walked over, sitting down.
"Oh. Is this a thing now?" The Doctor snarked.
I smirked. Stuck between a future doctor and a teenager. No wonder the next guy was nuts.
"He said 'last of your kind'. What does that mean?" Martha questioned.
"It really doesn't matter." The Doctor answered without answering.
"You don't talk. You never say. Why not?" Martha challenged us both.
Before anyone could give a lie, the city began to sing. In celebration of their new freedom.
"Fast falls the eventide."
"It's the city." Martha realized.
"The darkness deepens-"
"They're singing."
"Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail-"
"I lied to you, because I liked it." The Doctor admitted. Martha leaned forward.
I went to some nearby garbage piles. There were spare seats. Dragging them over, I propped them in front of Martha's.
"I could pretend. Just for a bit, I could imagine they were still alive, underneath a burnt orange sky." The Doctor explained. He looked down at her. "We're not just Time Lords. We're the last Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong. There's no one else."
"You've got each other, though." Martha pointed out. "That could've been what he meant."
"No...no he meant out there." I noted, sitting down in the chair. The Doctor moved his chair closer to my own before sitting in it. "It wasn't a reminder, that was a warning. He wouldn't have made his last words- his dying breath- be for anything less than that. Not- the Face of Boe would know better."
Martha gave me an understanding nod. She looked to the Doctor. "What happened?"
"Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day."
"There was a war. A Time War. The last Great Time War. Our people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost. Everyone lost." The Doctor explained.
As he spoke, I found myself leaning on his shoulder. The picture he painted- coupled with the haunting hymn echoing in the street- helped soothe any wounded soul.
"They're all gone now. My family, my friends, even that sky." The Doctor explained. He lowered his head so it rested on mine. His arm went out, hugging me closer. I let him. "Oh, you should have seen it, that old planet. The second sun would rise in the south, and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver, and when they caught the light every morning, it looked like a forest on fire. When the autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song."
I sat there, leaning against his side. He talked more and more about Gallifrey. It reminded me that everything fell, but not everything was lost.
==ROTF==
AN: Y'all ever start writing something, and then realize there's a great place to slide in an angst that will age like fine wine?
Yeah. Never get that.
Thanks to Bluebox345 for following