A/N: Arghhhhhh I'm starting to scare myself with this story but hey its sci-fi so I can have my own way. It'll stop being so talkie soon, just need to get the whole story across to set up what will happen, much easier when you can do wonderful little screen flashbacks on the telly isn't it? As usual don't own anything but please review.
"Sumi! Sumi! Where've you disappeared to now?" called Rose, as she stood in her room in Sumira's apartments, adjusting her heavy Time Lord robes. Despite not being even vaguely Gallifreyan, Rassilon insisted on Rose wearing the robes of the Presidential house at every meeting of the Senate, it was one of the requests made by Mora before he died. Rose smiled sadly as she thought of the old President, her teacher and friend. He had personally over seen her training with the TARDIS, marvelling at how well she handled the time ship after only a few lessons. He and Sumira we're the only ones who knew her whole back history, the ones who knew she was not the prophet that the Time Lords now made her out to be but she would not contradict their placing of her. In her heart serving Gallifrey and averting the potential of another Time War was her way of celebrating her life with the Doctor, carrying on from what he had taught her.
Rose came back to reality as she heard a thump from the room next door and several undignified curses from her companions mouth. Lifting the skirts of her robes from the floor, she made her way out of her room and into Sumira's. The girl in question lay in a sprawled position on her bed, clearly having toppled trying to place the vial of Saturn dust with her collection on a high shelf. Rose rolled her eyes and helped her back to her feet.
"I swear I'll walk in here one day and you'll have broken your neck," she said as they returned to the central room, "Do you think you can stay out of trouble for an hour or so while I'm at the Senate Meeting?"
"Of course," said Sumira, flopping down onto the ornate sofa her father had insisted on placing in the apartment when she moved, "What have they got you in for this time?"
"Probably the way I handled the facist uprising on Yoyta, allegedly flashing the troops to distract them isn't deemed a diplomatic tool for a Gallifreyan representative," said Rose, giggling at the memory, "I'll get a slap on the wrist again. They know they can't touch my while Rassilon and Ero are in power, Rassilon would never go against Mora's wishes."
"Just be careful Rose," said Sumira as she watched her friend adjust her hair in the mirror, pulling the long brunette strands she could still remember as being gold into a tight plait down her back, "You know how tricky those senators can be and don't get all snarky with them like you did last time, you just piss them off and then they send us to planet shit hole in shit galaxy nine on a mission."
"But its so much fun and I do snarky brilliantly," said Rose turning back to the room, "There, how do I look?"
"Like a dusty old senator but I bet Ero will still tell you that you look lovely," said Sumira with a wicked grin, "He so has the hots for you."
"You sound more human everyday. Even if he does like me, which he doesn't, I'll just have to let him down gently and don't you wind him up. He doesn't know about the Doctor and I don't want him to, some things, I need to keep sacred," said Rose making for the door. Her hand was on the handle as she heard Sumira speak once more.
"What would you do if you saw him again Rose?"
"Cry," said Rose softly, "And I'd tell him that I love him. Now stay here and don't cause trouble. I'll be back soon."
Rose opened the door and stepped out into the corridors of the Presidential Palace of Arcadia, biting back the tears that had crept into her eyes. She hadn't cried in five years and she wasn't going to now. Raising herself up to her full height, she threw back her shoulders and adopted the air she carried so brilliantly, silent, snarky and deadly. Her Doctor, her first Doctor, living and breathing on Gallifrey once more.
XXXX
Sumira waited until she heard Rose's heavy boots echoing down the corridor before she ran back into her room, retrieving the small communications device from underneath her pillow. She smiled down at the picture on the screen.
"Mickey you're a genius!" she said her voice still a whisper.
"I don't know why you're whispering Sumi, she's gone," said Mickey, "You made enough noise when I told you anyway, did you hurt yourself?"
"I'm fine, just next time ask me if I'm sitting down. Where is he, get him on the screen. I want to see if he's as handsome as Rose makes him out to be."
Mickey laughed at the eager look on his friend's face, "Jackie's feeding him. He can't escape for a while, you'll see him when we get there. I need you to clear a landing bay for us, the TARDIS looks exactly like the Valiant and I don't want people panicking when we land."
"I'll authorise the landing, I can't believe we did it, she is going to love us so much when she sees him. When are you leaving?"
"Ten minutes," said Mickey, "The Doctor's TARDIS is a type 40 like the Valiant but we're not going to open her up too much so we should be there in about thirty minutes, if the shields hold."
"They'll hold," said Sumira, "Get here as fast as you can. Rose is at the Senate for a couple of hours, plenty of time to stow him away in here for when she gets back. Safe journey. See you soon."
"See you soon Sumi and don't get distracted we need that landing clearance," said Mickey before his image faded from the screen.
"Don't get distracted," mimicked Sumira, "Like I'd get distracted."
She got to her feet and moved swiftly out of her apartments, locking the door behind her and hurrying down the cool, marble corridors. Her pace was unrelenting as she descended to the landing bay, the décor becoming more military and useful. Several of the young guards shot her an appreciative stare but she knew it was her connections they saw beneath her heavy robes and not the girl she was. That's why she'd asked to travel with Rose, travelling through the stars with the infamous Doctor, defender of the universe. The Doctor. She had grown used to Rose bearing that title but now she knew she had to meet the original and the thought terrified her. Rose in her role was terrifying, strong and silent. She could negotiate her way out of any situation or if that failed she could turn the alien weapons on her captors with a clever quip or brilliantly executed plan. In private Rose had always confided how she learned everything from her Doctor and Sumira worried that if Rose could possess such power what would her teacher be capable of?
So lost in her thoughts was she that Sumira failed to see the person coming towards her until she collided with the broad mass of a silk robed chest. She looked up into the eyes of her assailant and blushed as she knew the words that would drop from his tongue.
"In a rush Sumira?" said the Chancellor, "You should pull your head out of the clouds otherwise you'll end up crashing into a Cyberman or worse one of these days."
"I was just thinking about the Doctor," said Sumira, "All those adventures. If you don't mind me saying, shouldn't you be at the Senate Meeting."
"I had a pressing matter to attend to, I was excused for the evening. Actually seeing as you're here I was hoping to talk to you."
"Well I'm actually in a bit of a…"
"Sumira," said the Chancellor, "It is important that I speak to you."
"But…yes Sir," said Sumira knowing that she couldn't protest her case before her superior without revealing too much information. She glanced back at the docking bay, praying she could get clearance for the TARDIS, as the Chancellor led her away.
After what seemed an eternity of walking, the Chancellor pulled her into a nearby antechamber and sat her down on one of the simple iron benches, normally reserved for the soldiers on duty. He paced the room before her, wringing his hands in a way Sumira had never seen before. She bit her lip to stop herself laughing. Ero only acted nervous when Rose was around or he mentioning her.
"Sumira," he began, clearing his throat as his voice came out in a squeak, "You and the Doctor have been friends for some time now."
"Four years," said Sumira preening, everyone on Gallifrey was jealous of her position beside Rose, "Well four and a bit. Why?"
"Does she confide in you about anything? Anyone?"
Sumira felt the devilish smile creep to her lips but fought to retain her stoic expression, "Oh yes, all the time. I know her most intimate secrets, who she likes, who she hates, who she loves. Her hopes, her dreams, even her name. I know everything there is to know about her I think. Why do you ask? You know I will never tell you her name or her history, many have tried that before."
Ero's pacing stilled but he still tapped his foot nervously against the grated floor, "I would never ask you to reveal that, though her name I admit is a mystery I long to solve…just for information's sake of course."
"Of course," said Sumi, a giggle rising in her throat that she barely managed to disguise as a cough, "So what do you need to know?"
She watched as Ero resumed his pacing, clasping his hands behind his back then moving to sit down on the bench beside her before springing back to his feet and resuming his pacing. His dance went on for several minutes before Sumira burst out laughing, having to hold onto the bench for fear of toppling off it.
"Dear sweet Chancellor," she said through her giggles, "You care for her don't you? I knew it!"
The Chancellor paled dramatically before running a hand through his slightly greying hair, "More than I should and that is why I need you help Sumira, help me to win her. She closes herself off from any romantic attention, hides behind that leather jacket of hers. I know she dyed her hair back to brown because of the comments she got on its gold when she first came here, she flinches away from any contact but she should not. Help me, I swear I will treat her as well as any man could."
Sumira's giggles quieted as she heard his hearts laid bare before her. She calmed her breathing before she spoke, "Do you seek my permission to pursue her or my advice because I can give you neither. I know the Doctor's heart and mind as if they were my own and I cannot aide you with something that I know will only lead to pain for you both," she said softly taking his hand as he sat on the bench beside her, "She cares for you deeply Chancellor Ero, she values your friendship beyond anything but she can never love you. Her heart belongs…her heart belongs to the universe, the people she serves, to something far greater than we could ever be."
The Chancellor's head dropped to his chest before he breathed a defeated sigh, "I cannot quell these feelings inside me. I know it is against the laws of our planet to love her, it is against the natural order of our people. I will out live her even with the gifts of our people within her, I will regenerate and she will slowly age but that spirit, the spirit of hers will never age."
"Yet to love you, or anyone who does not share that same spirit would be to cage her," said Sumira, "Her strength lies in her freedom and to be tied to anyone who her heart did not belong to in its entirety would destroy her. You surely know there is truth in that?"
Sumira was content to sit beside Ero as he sank into deep thought, forgotten was anything in her head before the Chancellor's words as she saw the pain in his face. She had seen it before, not just those on Gallifrey but men across the universe that had known the mysterious Doctor as a friend and comrade for a long enough time to see her true beauty. Men of great wealth, beauty and intelligence and thrown themselves at her feet and every one was turned away as gently as she could manage. Sumira saw the other side too, heard Rose fight back the threat of tears either in the Valiant's control room or her apartments, heard her when she spoke to the stars as if the man she loved could still hear her if she whispered softly enough. She knew that behind the armour of leather and sarcasm there was a girl who had lost everything she held dear, who lived behind the mask of another that she had created. The Doctor, to Rose, was a sanctuary in his absence as he had been when they were together, a mask she could hide behind.
Many minutes passed before she opened her mouth to speak again but she was cut short as the red alert sounded throughout the building. The Chancellor shot to his feet and ran from the room, Sumira close at his heels, racing back towards the landing bay. It was when she saw the soldiers at arms and the materialising TARDIS that she remembered her promise. She could hear the astonished gasps from around her, watched the soldiers eyes dart from the now solid Police Public Call Box to the Valiant stationed against the western wall.
"It's exactly like the Valiant…"
"She cannot cross her own time track…"
"Its an invasion…"
Sumira paled as she saw more and more soldiers enter the room, their weapons trained on the TARDIS. She wanted to move before them, call them off but the Chancellor held her back, his eyes as confused as the others around them. Then she saw it, the door opened.
Rose hadn't lied. Rose was right, from his mop of flyaway brown hair to the scruffy plimsolls on his feet, the Doctor, the real Doctor was handsome, so very handsome and terrified as he raised his arms above his head. Mickey doing the same beside him.
"Nice to see they brought out the welcoming party," Mickey said to the man beside him, "Clearly Sumi got distracted."
"Well I do like to make an entrance," said the Doctor, "Best get this over with. I'd like to see the Doctor please."
A/N: Ooh how should she react when she sees him? Answers on a postcard once again or the little button just down there…see it…right there…tiny little thing but very important. Nova x