Title: Underneath the Stars (More Than This)
Author: QMN
Disclaimer: "Doctor Who and TARDIS are trademarks of the BBC". Lyrics © Peter Gabriel. Jelly babies TM/©/® (delete as applicable) to Bassets.
Mmm, Jelly babies…
I'm working my way through the 8th Doctor books; so if my chronology/orientation is a little off, blame my internal TARDIS.
AN: 8th Doctor. 'We are stardust, and everywhere is home.' On a whim, the Doctor takes Anji stargazing. One-shot.
This has been lurking in my head ever since a) I applied these lyrics to the Doctor, and b) I ran out onto the green with binoculars and a digital camera after watching the film for the first time. The moon was yellow, honest.
∞ ∞ ∞
It's all right,
all right,
all right…
Like words together,
we can make some sense.
Much more than this
Way beyond imagination
Much more than this
Beyond the stars
The Earth night was clear and cool: the summer day had left traces of heat, and the wind was like a rippling wave over the long grass. The Doctor leapt out of the TARDIS, looking for all the world like a leprechaun in his velvet green coat, his light brown hair floating around his face. He laughed, delighted, and threw his arms up, gesturing at the multitude of stars strewn across the sky.
Anji followed him out carefully, pulling a huge jumper over her head and teasing her hair out from under it. He grabbed her hand with his too-cool touch and yanked her across the grass, his beautiful blue eyes wild in wonder like a child.
'Look!' He released her and spun slowly, arching his head back. 'The Plough, or Ursa Minor, whichever you fancy.'
Anji folded her arms, her sleeves dangling, and peered up. The dense pinpricks of silver against the deep blue remained incomprehensible, although following the Doctor's outstretched arm she made out the familiar pan-shaped formation.
He was talking again, his sentences running together like a stream. 'Orion, Sirius, Triangulum - or the Summer Triangle as I know it, Pegasus, Taurus, look - the red star, Aldebaran! A whole universe ready for exploring!'
He turned his gaze on her and laughed again, exulting in the sheer scale of the space above their heads. Abruptly he had danced behind her, putting one long-fingered hand on her shoulder and craning his head again. 'Andromeda.' He pointed at the white smudge. 'And somewhere in there, Gallifrey.'
'Long way from home,' she commented.
'I don't care,' he said simply, his eyes shining in the starlight. 'We are stardust, and everywhere is home.'
'Some places are more home than others,' she pointed out, shifting as the wind gusted and streamed her dark hair out in front of her. 'We must be somewhere in the past for the stars to be so clear,' she added after a pause.
'Twelve twenty one, actually.'
'Palindrome.'
He paused, mentally writing out the date, and then he smiled. 'You're good at this.'
She smiled modestly, tilting her head back and trying to sense the scale. Her human mind wasn't equipped for that kind of distance, and as much as she tried, she could only grasp at it, like trying to catch raindrops on her tongue.
The Doctor was giddy on it.
He pranced away from her and across the grass, his arms wide, spinning gently like a child. Suddenly he emitted a whoop, startling Anji's concentration, and toppled over.
He lay spread-eagled, grass seeds in the tangles of his hair, gazing up at the stars with the kind of innocent rapture Anji had only read about. She crouched beside him, then fell onto her own back, their heads knocking together. He turned his head to look into her eyes, and then stared upwards once more, always upwards.
Wind rippled the grass around them; a few strands of his curls floated across her face. He sighed, suddenly pensive.
'Do you have any more Jelly babies?'
Her giggles infected him, and they wriggled in the grass, helpless with impulsive laughter, sprawled underneath the stars together.
With my head so full
So full of fractured pictures
And I'm all there
Right next to you
So much more than this
There is something else there
When all that you have
Has all gone
And more than this
I'm alone
Feeling so connected
I'm all there
Right next to you
∞ ∞ ∞