"Mum!" Sarah screamed through the darkness, her voice cracking. "Mum, please! Mum, help! Mum!

"Sarah!" I shouted as I stumbled forward blindly.

"Mum, please, make it stop! Make it stop!"

The inky blackness around me suddenly disappeared and was replaced by endless whiteness. Sarah stood in front of me with tears pouring down her cheeks as her face was contorted in pain. Her entire body was surrounded by a soft golden glow as her form slowly went see-through. She was jumping through time just like I did, only for her the pain was excruciating.

"Mum!" she sobbed in pain. "Mum, please… Please, it hurts!"

As Sarah began to disappear, I did as well and ended up following her. The golden glow shimmered away and as Sarah fell to her knees, an explosion sounded somewhere behind me. I whirled around to face the explosion and saw a fleet of Daleks approaching us shouting their battle cry. Sarah sobbed as she gazed hopelessly at the approaching aliens and barely sucked in a new breath before two shots of extermination energy flew past me and hit my daughter just over her two hearts.

"No!" I screamed as Sarah's lifeless body toppled to the ground. "No! No, no, no, no!"

The Daleks continued to fire at Sarah's body, keeping her from regenerating. I ran towards her body and fell to my knees at her side, cradling her body in my arms as more shots continued to rain down on us. The shots didn't kill me, but instead rocked me back and forth as I cried over Sarah's body.

"No, no, no," I whispered through my tears. Taking a deep, shaking breath, I closed my eyes and let out a bloodcurdling scream. "No, please no!"

I suddenly woke up after something jerked roughly on my shoulders. Gasping loudly in shock, I flew up into a sitting position with a final cry. Two hands suddenly flew into my line of vision and cupped my face, turning me towards a figure that I knew well.

"Diana, what is it?" the Doctor asked frantically.

"No," I begged through my tears. "Please…"

"Diana, what happened?"

"Sarah's dead," I sobbed as I fell forward against the Doctor's chest. "She's dead. She's dead because of me."

"No, no, no, no, no. No, Diana, no. Sarah's alive."

I shook my head as I wrapped my arms around the Time Lord's torso. "She's dead," I cried. "They killed her. They kept killing her. S-She was forced to… to time jump like me and she was killed and it's all my fault."

"Hey, listen to me, listen to me, Diana. Sarah's alive."

"No." I shook my head. "They killed her. The Daleks killed her! S-She couldn't even regenerate!"

"Diana," the Doctor said firmly, pulling away from me to look directly into my eyes. "Sarah is alive. I promise you she's alive right now and very, very far away from any Daleks."

"B-But-"

"It was just a dream," he assured me. "Just a dream, Diana. It wasn't real." He gazed silently at me for a moment or two while I continued softly crying. "Let me see?"

It took me a few seconds to understand what he was saying, but when I did I nodded. The Doctor placed his fingertips on my temples and closed his eyes as he asked for permission to enter my mind. I closed my eyes, still crying, and let him in. I could feel him moving through my mind, searching only for my dream and ignoring everything else. As soon as he found the dream, it began again and I felt absolutely sick having to experience it again. He forced the dream to stop before Sarah was shot and then very gently pulled out of my mind, his consciousness soothingly brushing against mine before he was suddenly gone.

The moment he exited my mind, the Doctor wrapped his arms around me again and pulled my against his chest. I buried my face in his shoulder and let out another sob as he rested his chin on top of my head. He slowly ran a hand up and down my back to try and comfort me as I wept openly into the curve of his neck.

"It's okay," he whispered. "It's alright. I'm here. You're safe, Sarah's safe, and nothing is going to hurt her. I promise."

The Doctor lightly pressed a kiss to my temple and moved his hand from my back to my head, where he began to run his fingers through my hair. The motion was both comforting and soothing and although I was still upset about the dream, I could feel myself slowly starting to calm down.

"I'm sorry," he said after a few minutes of silence between us. "About your dream, I'm sorry… Did you want me to take it for you? I could try to erase it from your memory if you wanted."

I shook my head firmly. "No," I said softly. "I don't want you in there." I don't want you to see…

"Diana, I only want to help-"

"I know. But I… I don't want you to."

He nodded slowly, sighing lightly in resignation. "Alright."

I could feel the Doctor's frustration and confusion at my refusal to his offer, so I pushed myself out of his arms and moved to lie on my side facing away from him. I stared at the window and looked at the tree just outside as it shimmered in the moonlight.

"What can I do to help?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm fine," I whispered.

"No you're not. You woke the entire house up with your screaming. That doesn't make you okay."

"It's fine," I said.

"It's not. You know it's not, so just let me help you."

I don't want you to hate me more than you already do. I don't want you to know how weak and scared I really am. I don't want to be a burden.

"What can I do? Tell me, please, what can I do? What should I do? What do you need?" When I remained silent, the Doctor continued to speak to me. "Diana, I can't read your mind. I don't know what you're thinking, what you're feeling, unless you tell me. Please tell me. I only want to help."

Tears had started to well in my eyes as the Doctor pleaded with me. I had started to dwell on the dream again and could already feel my entire body start to tremble with the effort of withholding my tears.

"Diana, please, talk to me."

The cry I had been suppressing finally burst from my throat and I curled in on myself immediately. "It's my fault," I whispered. "She died because of me."

"What?"

"She was like me. She was being pulled through time by the vortex like I am. And because of that, she died. If it wasn't for me, that never would have happened."

"Diana, no. Sarah's not like that," he explained quickly.

I looked over my shoulder and stared in confusion at the Time Lord. "What?"

"Did you think our children were pulled into the time vortex like you are?" I sniffled and, after a moment of silence, nodded. The Doctor exhaled heavily and shook his head, reaching forward to put a hand on my upper arm. "You are unique in the universe. You and only you are taken out of time and space by the vortex. Our children have never had to worry about that and they never will."

"So they're… they're normal? They're not like me?"

"Completely normal," the Doctor assured me with a smile. "Well, as normal as they can be with time travelers for parents." He reached forward and lightly brushed a finger against my cheek, his smile fading slightly. "Did you think something was going to happen to them because of you? Is that why you had that dream?"

"I don't know," I murmured, glancing away from the Time Lord to look out the window again.

The Doctor pulled his hand back and rested it on the bed beside my waist. "What happened?" he asked. "Before Gallifrey?"

The memories that I had tried to block out about New York and the angels came rushing back and I closed my eyes. "Spoilers," I said. "Your future. I-I can't-"

"Before that, then."

"You met me for the first time," I said slowly. "I'd forgotten about it, sort of. Once I ended up on Gallifrey, everything happened so quickly. I didn't have a lot of time to focus on what had happened because I busy learning how to fight, how to hunt, how to survive. I just… pushed everything aside and forgot about it. But I guess I didn't really forget, did I?"

"Did you want to talk about it?" the Doctor asked.

I raised my eyebrows. "Right now?"

"If you want. I just thought it might help, but if you don't want to I understand." The Doctor sighed lightly and hung his head as he gazed at a spot on the bed just beside my shoulder. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you back then. I never really apologized for what happened."

"You didn't know me and you had no reason to trust me. I know that."

"But that doesn't excuse the things I said, the things I did."

"I forgive you," I said softly, my eyes slowly flitting up to meet the Doctor's. "I know you were just trying to protect yourself and Susan. I was a stranger who was potentially dangerous. I'd have been the same."

The Doctor nodded once before looking away again, seemingly unable to hold my gaze for very long. He looked back down at the bed and fiddled with a loose string on the comforter. "When you were on Gallifrey," he began slowly, his voice strained just slightly, "you went to the Wastelands. What happened there?"

"I was found by a member of Nesbin's tribe and after I was interrogated and deemed not dangerous, they allowed me to become part of the tribe. I had to learn how to hunt for myself and how to fight, although I really only learned basic fighting techniques. Enough to defend myself and hurt my attacker if necessary, but not much else. And I… made friends when I was there. Madelie, Lenaya, Anouk, Kyra… It wasn't the same as the friendship I have with Martha or River or Missy-"

"Who?"

I shook my head. "Never mind. My point is that even though I couldn't really be myself around them, they were still my friends and we bonded. We were together for six months and now I don't know if I'll ever see them again. Like how I thought I might never see you again either."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said seriously and I knew he meant it. "If I could have gone after you, I would have. I never wanted you stranded there because I knew that anything could happen and I wouldn't be there to help you. I was so worried… Until you appeared again and proved that you were safe and sound."

I nodded a little absently, still listening to the Doctor as he spoke but also letting my mind wander a little to something else that had bothered me back on Gallifrey. Speaking about my time in the Wastelands and the friends I had made there triggered my memory of everything that I had pushed to the back of my mind after my argument with the Doctor. First and foremost in my mind at that moment was the memory of my friend Madelie regenerating and the worries it had generated.

"Diana?"

I blinked, the Doctor's voice drawing me out of my thoughts. "Hm?"

"What's wrong?" he asked.

I shook my head and glanced down at the bed. "Um, nothing," I sighed. "I'm just… tired, I guess."

The Doctor nodded in understanding and suggested, "Why don't you go back to sleep? We can talk more tomorrow, if you want."

I played back in the bed so my head was resting on my pillow again, nodding slightly as I looked up at the ceiling. "Okay," I said simply.

The Doctor stayed frozen on the edge of the bed for a moment or two before he suddenly stood up and started for the door. Realizing my mistake in not saying anything else, I sat up so I was supported on my elbows and called the Doctor's name.

"Are you-? Where are you going?"

"Downstairs. I don't want to bother you if you're going to sleep. Besides, I, uh, should look over that file again," he said as he lightly scratched the back of his neck, his body framed in the doorway of my bedroom.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll see you in the morning then," I mumbled, feeling a little disappointed that he didn't want to stay. You haven't exactly made him feel welcome, I told myself. What did you expect?

"Goodnight."

I nodded and forced a brief smile. "Night."

The Doctor nodded once and walked out into the hall, closing the door behind him. I fell onto my back and sighed in disappointment and frustration. It was unlikely that I would go back to sleep anytime soon after my dream, especially without anyone there to stay beside me as a form of comfort. Even after six months alone in a tent on Gallifrey I hadn't managed to wean myself from seeking comfort from others.

I stayed in bed, wide awake and staring at the ceiling or the window, for what felt like hours but was most likely only a few minutes. As soon as the Doctor had left, I missed him despite everything that had been said and misunderstood between he also few days. I wanted him to come back and run his hands through my hair and tell me everything would be alright. I wanted Missy to take me away from everything so I could pretend that nothing at all was wrong. I wanted Sarah to come back and forgive me for what I'd failed to do as her mother. Memories and worries and fears were buzzing around my brain and I couldn't find sleep no matter how hard I tried.

The door to my room suddenly opened, startling me, and I turned to see the Doctor's silhouette in the doorframe. "Theta?" I asked in confusion, absentmindedly using the nickname I had tried not to use ever since the event I had witnessed.

"You can't sleep, can you?"

Sitting up, I shook my head and awkwardly scratched my arm. "No."

"Do you want me to stay?"

"Yes."

The Doctor came into the room, the door swinging shut behind him, and shuffled over to the bed. I moved over to the left side of the bed, the side closest to the window, and watched as the Doctor toed off his shoes before moving to lie down beside me. He sat on top of the comforter with his back mostly pressed against the headboard and his long legs crossed at the ankles.

I wanted to lean forward and curl up against his chest, but I worried that maybe that wasn't appropriate. How was I supposed to proceed about normal couple things with the reminder of our argument always hanging in the air between us? The Doctor seemed to sense that I wasn't sure what to do, so he stretched out his left arm and gestured for me to curl up against him.

"Just for now, let's not worry about anything, alright? There's no expectations or rights or wrongs. I've missed you and I know you need someone right now. So if you'll still have me…"

"I've missed you too," I said softly before scooting forward to lean against the Doctor's chest.

His arm came down around my shoulders as I settled comfortably between him and the pillows. Hearing his familiar double heartsbeat after so long without it brought the tiniest smile to my lips. After a few seconds, the Doctor moved his arm from around my shoulders to a different position so that he could play with my hair and the action immediately soothed my racing mind.

"Is this alright?" he asked gently.

I nodded and smiled genuinely, snuggling even more into the Time Lord's chest. "Yes."

"How long do you want me to stay?"

I stayed silent for a long couple of minutes as I considered my response. I honestly wasn't sure what to say to him, but I did know that I didn't want him to leave anytime soon. Curling my fingers around the lapel of his pinstripe jacket, I whispered, "Just promise you'll still be here when I wake up."

The Doctor nodded and pressed a kiss to the crown of my head. "I'll stay for as long as you need me to," he answered. "I promise."

I wrapped an arm around the Doctor's torso and held onto him tightly. It was good to be with him again after so many months apart, especially since the last time I had seen the Time Lord in his tenth incarnation was right before he regenerated. Slowly but surely, my eyes began to feel heavy and I felt myself gradually drifting off to sleep.

"Don't go," I mumbled in a haze, my head falling forward as I grew more and more tired.

"I won't. I'm not going anywhere."

My eyelids fluttered shut as the Doctor continued playing with my hair and just a few moments later, I was fast asleep.

I woke of my own accord hours later, my vision slightly fuzzy until I blinked a few times to clear it. I let out a partial yawn and stretched out my legs under the comforter only to lightly kick another pair of legs that sat on top of the sheets. It took me just a second to remember what had happened before I fell asleep and when I turned my head to my right, I saw the Doctor sitting beside me and snoring lightly. His head was tilted back and resting against the top of the headboard with his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. Sally's folder was resting in his lap with a few of the papers spread across his thighs.

It was possible not to smile at the Doctor because he looked downright adorable. Very slowly so as not to wake him, I reached forward and gathered up the loose papers before placing them back in the folder. Then I turned over so I could put the folder on my bedside table right next to my phone. Once the folder was out of the way, I let out another yawn and stretched my arms out in front of me. My shoulders popped and I sighed happily before rolling onto my back and glancing up at the still sleeping Doctor.

His presence throughout the night had been a constant comfort while I was sleeping and was most likely the reason I hadn't had any bad dreams again. Because of the way he was sitting in bed and the way his arms were crossed low over his stomach, I couldn't really rest my head against his arm or torso. So instead I moved a few inches closer and curled up into a ball so I could snuggle against him.

However, my movements were jarring enough to have woken the Doctor. He made a tired noise in the back of his throat before yawning and letting his arms fall from his waist, meaning that his left elbow smacked not-so-lightly into my forehead.

"Ow!" I yelped surprise.

The Doctor instantly turned so he was facing me and took my face in his hands. I had already pressed a hand to my forehead and was glaring up at the Time Lord, who was smiling apologetically. He nudged my hand aside and leaned forward to lightly kiss my forehead.

"I'm sorry."

"Ow," I repeated softly as I reached up to rub the sore spot on my forehead again.

"I'm really sorry," he whispered as he kissed my forehead a second time. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and stared at the Time Lord's chest in embarrassment. "Yeah."

The Doctor absently ran the pad of his thumb along my cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were so close," he explained as his cheeks flushed light pink.

His comment only made me flush as well and I shrugged a little. "It's okay," I murmured.

The Doctor gazed down at me for a few moments before leaning back and finally pulling away completely. "How did you sleep?" he asked after pulling away and moving to lean back agains the headboard again.

I sat up and let the comforter pool around my waist. "Alright," I said. "No dreams."

"Good… Are you… hungry?" he asked awkwardly.

"A little, yeah."

"Me too. I might even have eggs."

"Oh my God, no," I groaned as I covered my face with my hands. "We are not having that discussion again."

"So I'm not allowed to have ten eggs for breakfast?" the Doctor teased.

"No."

I peered through my fingers at the Time Lord and burst into laughter when I saw the mischievous grin on his face. The Doctor laughed softly with a gentleness in his eyes as he gazed at me. After our laughter died down, he reached out and took hold of my hand.

"Why don't you stay here while I go downstairs and make breakfast?" he suggested.

"Are you kidding? After you tried and failed to make eggs, I'd be surprised if you didn't burn the entire kitchen down."

"I'll try very hard not to burn anything."

I shook my head. "You tried to sonic the eggs last time. I don't think you actually know what you're doing. I'll take care of it this time-"

"Diana," he interjected, lightly applying pressure to my hand to make me stop, "please. I want to do it for you."

His response was so unexpected that I didn't really know what to say and ended up just staring silently at the Time Lord for a while. "O-Okay," I said after a minute.

"Just… let me do this for you," he said seriously.

"I didn't know making breakfast meant so much to you," I muttered half jokingly.

"It's not the food, it's me doing something for you to show you I care."
"Doctor, I know you care-"

"Please. I know it doesn't seem that important to you, but to me it's the most important thing I could do."

"It's just eggs, Doctor."

"No. It's me doing everything I can to make up for what I did, to apologize, to prove that I made a mistake and that I want to fix it. I feel so beyond guilty for what I did and I am going to spend the rest of my life fixing it if I have to." The Doctor suddenly cupped my cheek in his other hand and gazed seriously at me. "I love you and I will do whatever it takes to make sure you know that I will never abandon you again. And that I am so, so sorry."

I gazed wide-eyed at the Doctor, surprised by the sudden seriousness that the conversation had taken on. I was of course deeply moved by his sincerity, but was also a little stunned that he was so adamant to prove himself through breakfast food. However, I wasn't going to stop him if it really meant so much to him. I finally nodded and leaned back a little, pulling away from his hand slightly.

"Stay right here," the Doctor whispered, grabbing my hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it before jumping out of bed. "I'll be right back."

I started reading one of the books scattered throughout the room while the Doctor was hard at work in the kitchen, knowing it would take the Time Lord a while to get anything done. About an hour later, after lots of shouting from the kitchen for me to stay put until he had finished, the Doctor returned to my room with a tray of mostly un-singed food. I set my book aside on the bedside table as the Doctor walked across the room and placed the tray across my thighs.

"Thank you," I sighed as I looked over the food he had brought me. The meal consisted of two pieces of very buttery pieces of toast that were only singed around the edges, properly cooked scrambled eggs that were only a little runny, and a tall glass of milk that had spilled a little on the tray. "Doctor, this looks wonderful."

The Doctor beamed proudly and flashed me an excited grin. He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked expectantly at me for a few moments, his eyes flitting between the food and myself. Realizing that he was waiting for me to try the meal, I immediately grabbed a piece of toast and took a bite from the least burnt side. Because it had been heavily coated in butter and was still a little warm, the toast was much better than I had anticipated and I hummed in appreciation.

"Well?" the Time Lord asked anxiously.

"It's very good," I praised.

"Try the eggs," he urged excitedly.

I smiled and picked up the fork resting beside the plate, gently poking the eggs with one of the prongs on the utensil before finally taking a bite. Much to my surprise, they weren't burnt or otherwise ruined and were quite good apart from the fact that they were just slightly runny. I washed the eggs down with a few long sips of milk and, after licking away my milk mustache, I turned back to the Doctor and grinned up at him.

"It's very good," I said again. "Congratulations on not destroying the eggs."

"Well," he began as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, "those were the third set of eggs I made. The others… didn't really work out."

"I'll have to show you how to properly make eggs then."

"You might have to," the Doctor sighed. He suddenly leaned forward and took hold of the edge of my plate. "You're done, right?"

"Yes," I said slowly.

"Do you want some more? I can try and make some more for you. Did you want bacon? I don't even know if we have bacon. Well, we might. I could have just forgotten."

"No," I laughed. "It's fine, Doctor. Thank you."

"Do you want some more milk? Or juice maybe? Or water. Water's good."

"Theta," I whispered before he could continue rambling, "I'm fine. I don't need anything else." I reached over the plate with my free hand and lightly grasped his arm. "I know why you're doing this and I appreciate it. I really do. But you don't have to worry so much."

"I have to make it up to you-"

"And you're doing an excellent job so far. I know you feel bad, but you don't have to make me bacon to apologize."

The Doctor shook his head and looked seriously at me. "I'll make you all the bacon in the world," he told me. Then, after a second, his serious expression turned into a slightly embarrassed one. "That… sounded less ridiculous in my head."

"If it makes you feel any better, I will eat as much of the bacon as possible," I said with a laugh.

"It does," he answered with a grin. The Doctor then leaned forward, the plate still grasped between our chests, and kissed my forehead. "Now, come on. Up you get. Time to get out of those pajamas and come downstairs. Where did you get those, by the way? I don't remember Martha buying those for you."

I glanced down at the light blue nightgown Missy had given to me and smiled. "Oh, it was a gift. From a friend."

"From who?" the Doctor asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"A future friend," I said after a moment.

"Ah. Spoilers, then."

I nodded. "Yeah. Spoilers. Sorry."

"Well, put on some real clothes anyway. Can't spend all day in here, can you?" The Doctor grabbed Sally's folder off my bedside table and tucked it under his arm. "Come on!"

I watched the Doctor practically fly out of the room and smiled fondly at him. But as soon as he was gone, my smile faltered a little. I knew that he was trying to make up for what he'd said and done, but that didn't erase what had happened. And I knew he was sorry, we both were, but I couldn't help thinking back to the few days I had spent thinking that my boyfriend might never come back to me. I still loved him, but it would take a while for my trust in him to be as strong as it once was.

A/N: I know it took a while, but here;s the new chapter! I really hope you all enjoyed it. Please don't forget to review!