I burst through my bedroom door and fell onto my bed, sobbing loudly into my pillow. I replayed every word in my mind as I grabbed desperately at the pillow in an attempt to ground myself, but the argument just continued to echo in my ears. So many thoughts and feelings were jumbled together in my head that it was difficult to know what I most upset about. Was it the Doctor's abandonment? Young Theta Sigma's murderous rage? Sarah's hatred of me and then her sudden return? It was probably every bad memory and feeling I had ever felt since coming to the Doctor's universe, but one specific thing stood out in my mind that I simply couldn't stop replaying.

Don't stand there and accuse me of abandoning you when, for once, I was trying to take care of myself instead of looking after you all the time.

All I could think was that the Doctor, the man I had come to love more than anything, hated me. And it made sense too. I was always weak and scared, more spineless than the most disgusting coward ever to cross the Doctor's path. I got kidnapped too often, cried too much, felt so strongly about everything that people took pity on me instead of truly liking me. How could the Doctor ever love a person like that?

I thought of the Doctor's companions and realized how unimportant and stupid I was compared to them. All of them were quick thinkers and highly intelligent without any knowledge of things to come, even companions that were from time periods without certain technology or education. They were all brave and resilient and clever, whereas I was constantly whiny and worried and afraid. I could fight with simple hand-to-hand maneuvers because of my training on Gallifrey, but what good would that do compared to the brain of a Time Lady or the clever wit of a journalist or the bravery and loyalty of a girl who never passed her A-levels?

My mind refused to accept any truth other than the truth I had created. Curling into a ball on the bed, I clung to my pillow as I continued crying over everything that had been said and done. I was close to crying myself to sleep as I began to grow more and more tired when my phone, which hadn't been working properly for nearly six months, began ringing. Both confused and startled, I sat up and looked around the room for a moment as I tried to remember where it was. During the confusion of leaving Gallifrey and seeing the Doctor again, I had managed to misplace my belongings that were still in the satchel K'anpo gave to me. I thought the satchel was still on Gallifrey, but apparently it wasn't because my phone was still ringing. Sniffling and wiping some of my tears away, I got out of bed and found my satchel sitting at the foot of my bed.

How did I miss it? I wondered as I dug through the satchel for my phone. I must've been really out of it.

By the time I found my phone, the person trying to contact me had apparently ended the call. I swiped my thumb across the screen to unlock it when the phone began ringing again. With the press of a button, I answered the call and brought the phone up to my ear.

"H-Hello?" I asked softly, hoping my voice wouldn't betray me.

There was a very light pause before the caller spoke. "Diana? Are you alright?"

"Missy?" I said incredulously.

"What's wrong?"

I shook my head instinctively, clearing my throat to make myself sound more normal. "Nothing," I answered quickly. "I'm fine."

"That's a lie and we both know it. Now will you tell me what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Diana Scott, it's absolutely impossible to lie to me. I know something's not right because your voice is trembling and you sound a bit sniffly, so tell me what's happened."

"Missy, please," I whispered as I felt my eyes begin to well with tears.

"Tell me. What. Happened," she said firmly. "I won't ask again."

"Missy, it's fine!" I exclaimed as my voice cracked.

Missy hummed over the line as I broke into tears again. "Just like I thought. Be there in a mo."

I sniffled and tried to wipe away some of the tears on my cheek. "W-Wait, what?" I stammered.

"Just need to trace your space-time coordinates and…" A loud pop sounded behind me and I whirled around in surprise and confusion to find Missy standing behind me, a small device held up to her ear. "Ta."

I slowly lowered my phone as I stared at the woman in shock. She lowered the device, then walked over to me and pulled me up by the arm before I could say anything. She stuffed the device into a pocket in her skirt, then placed my hand on her left wrist where a vortex manipulator was strapped. Very quickly, she typed in a series of numbers with a proud and knowing smile.

"Missy, you have to go. If the Doctor finds you-"

"Now hold on tight," she whispered. "This might be a little bumpy."

"Wait, Missy-"

I was cut off by the sound of electricity crackling around us. In the blink of an eye, my bedroom disappeared completely and I stumbled forward as a wave of nausea swept over me. Missy squealed in excitement and whirled around in place while I doubled over and prayed that I wouldn't throw up.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," she teased. "Woo hoo, let's do it again!"

I glanced up at her with an incredulous expression. "Are you nuts?"

"Bananas, dear," Missy corrected with a grin. She smoothed a hand over her hair and then gestured to our new surroundings. "What do you think of the view?"

Still slightly doubled over, I looked away from the woman to see that we were standing on the shore of a beautiful lake. The surface of the lake was as smooth as glass and reflected the stunning images of the mountains that towered above us on the opposite side of the water. I slowly stood up so I could better see where Missy had taken me.

"Do you like it?" she whispered in my ear.

I jumped in surprise, not having heard her move to stand beside me. "Y-Yes," I stammered a little awkwardly. After a moment, however, I looked over my shoulder at the woman and flashed her a confused expression. "I don't understand. Why did you bring me here? And how do you have a vortex manipulator?"

"You were crying," Missy said, the teasing tone in her voice suddenly gone as she gazed very seriously at me. "I had to do something."

"So you took me… here?" I asked as I looked at the wide expanse of the lake again. "Why?"

"You know why."

The gentleness in her voice surprised me and I immediately turned to face Missy again. "No, I don't," I answered with a shake of my head.

"Because I care," she said simply. We stared at each other in silence for what felt like an eternity until Missy spoke again, her eyes still locked onto mine. "Why were you crying?"

"It doesn't matter," I mumbled as I turned away. I crossed my arms over my stomach and looked down at the ground, looking at the water-smoothed pebbles under my feet.

"Yes it does. Of course it matters."

"Why?"

"Because it's you. You've always mattered."

I furrowed my brows in concentration as I tried to understand why it meant so much to Missy. Were we incredibly close in the future? There were companions I had met that I was very protective of, like Sarah Jane or Susan Foreman or Jo. Perhaps that was how Missy felt about me?

"Was it him?" she asked, interrupting my train of thought.

"What?"

"The Doctor. Was he the one who made you cry?"

I closed my eyes against the memory of each word and thought, fighting to keep them from rushing back to the forefront of my mind. I didn't want to cry in front of Missy when she had gone through so much trouble to make me feel better, even if I didn't really understand why, and I didn't want to think about what the Doctor had said to me. Or what I had said to him.

"What happened, Diana?"

"Please," I whispered as my voice started to tremble again. "Just don't."

"What happened?" Missy repeated.

I took a deep, shuddering breath and let my head hang as I gave in to the urge to cry. "He left. I needed him and he left." I quickly wiped away the few tears that had fallen, refusing to move my head in case Missy saw them. "And when he came back, he- we said things to each other that we shouldn't have said."

Missy gently rested a hand on my shoulder and turned me around to face her. I offered no resistance and let her cup my chin to bring my eyes up to hers. "Start from the beginning," she said softly.

For some reason I felt like I could tell Missy about the complications of my timeline and it felt like she understood completely. There was no pitying or patronizing look in her eyes, just understanding and sympathy. Explaining everything to Martha and even Sarah had helped, but Sarah ended up running away from me in anger and Martha just couldn't understand the implications of what I had seen. Missy somehow managed to have me tell her what I saw, although I was hesitant to tell her at first. But when I told her about Theta's incident by the river, she seemed to loose herself for a moment and a strange look flashed across her face that I couldn't interpret.

"Missy?" I murmured through my tears. "What is it?"

"Hm?" she asked with a shake of her head, drawing out of her thoughts. "I'm sorry, love."

"Are you okay?"

Missy smiled fondly at me. "Always worrying about everyone but yourself. You never change."

I scoffed. "Yeah, I think you missed the part where I cried about poor me for an entire day."

"Oh, right," she sighed sarcastically. "Because that's not a completely normal reaction to being abandoned. You had every right to cry."

"But what about the things I said to him?"

"You lost your temper. The Doctor never should have left you, no matter what he did or how he felt. Besides, I know you. You keep everything bottled up inside," Missy sighed as she gently placed a hand on my forearm, her fingers wrapping around my wrist. "You snapped. There's nothing wrong with that. After everything you've gone through, I'm surprised you didn't completely lose it."

My gaze dropped to where Missy's fingers were trailing along my forearm, then flew up to meet her eyes. "Why do you care so much?"

Missy smirked and merely said, "Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?"

I sighed and turned my head so I could look out at the lake. "Can we stay a little while?" I wondered. "I don't want to go back yet."

"If you like."

"You never told me where we are," I added after a moment or two.

"Canada. A few thousand years in the past. Thought you'd like it."

"I love it."

I pulled my hand away from Missy's and moved to sit down, not minding the fact that I was sitting on a bed of pebbles. With my legs crossed and my elbows resting on my knees, I gazed out over the lake in silence. Missy sat down beside me with a flourish of her skirts and stretched her legs out in front of her, then supported herself by placing her arms just slightly behind her. We stayed that way for a long time, not speaking, but enjoying each other's company and the silence. I didn't cry after that because I felt like I had cried enough to last me a lifetime and being away from the Doctor and the house, I was much more at ease than I had been ever since I left Gallifrey.

It was twilight when Missy suddenly spoke. "Say something nice," she whispered, her ice blue eyes focused on the horizon.

I looked curiously at her. "Why?"

"Please?"

I looked back out at the sunset shining over the lake and smiled. "Thank you," I said softly as I turned to look at her once more. "For everything."

Missy gathered Diana's sleeping form in her arms, jarring her slightly from her slumber so that she would stand up. It took some maneuvering, but she eventually managed to transport Diana back to her room in the Doctor's house. Missy guided the girl back to her bed and watched as she fell asleep almost immediately, her eyes still red and slightly puffy from her long hours of crying.

It had been too long since she'd seen Diana and the circumstances of their last meeting had not been pleasant. But Missy wasn't one to dwell on unhappy memories, at least not all the time. With a gentle sigh, she leaned forward and kissed Diana on the forehead before disappearing with a flash of electricity.

A/N: So... Thoughts?

The name of the chapter comes from the original lyrics used in "Missy's Theme" on the series 8 soundtrack. There's a link to the lyrics on my author profile page. Anyway, please please please leave a review and tell me what you thought!