A/N: Hey guys, sorry this is a day late. As you can tell, we finally get to the end of Blink. I'll be answering reviews at the end! Enjoy.
That's cheating, Doctor!" Kari cried, moving his board piece back three spaces. "We're playing the normal Earth version, not some intergalactic 'three means nine and two means four' version."
"But the tenth millennium edition is so much more fun." The Doctor moaned, a pout appearing on his face.
"I don't care. We are playing normal Monopoly, so get over it." She told him, picking up the dices and then tossing them onto the board. "You wouldn't have to be playing board games with me if you and Martha both let me go back to work."
"Kari, we've been over this, all three of us." The Doctor reminded her, watching as she moved her piece. "I don't want you working, Martha is happy for you to stay here and keep me company."
Kari didn't say anything as she folded her arms across her chest, making sure that the Doctor understood that she still wasn't happy with that decision. He insisted that the three of them had agreed on it, but really it had been the Doctor and Martha who decided, Kari didn't even get a say. That had annoyed her, because she didn't mind working, but she wouldn't admit that she was happy staying home to spend time with her Doctor.
"Now come on, there's no need to start sulking." He told her, but not getting any response or movement from her. "Right, get your coat on." He said, pushing himself up from the floor.
"What for?" Kari asked him, her eyes fixed on the game board as she carried on sitting there, sulking.
"Well, we're going to meet Martha. She'll be finishing in a bit, so I was thinking the three of us can go for a wander and have dinner out tonight." He told her, heading into the hallway and grabbing his coat and Kari's.
Kari couldn't help but shake her head at him. "Yes, because we can really afford to splash the cash on eating out, can't we?" She asked him sarcastically as she took her coat from him. "Doesn't matter that there is food in the cupboard, and the fridge, and the freezer."
The Doctor rolled his eyes at her, watching and waiting for her to get her coat on. "Oh, come on, Kari. Why do you have to be so miserable?"
"Because I can be." Kari told him, making sure to take her time putting her coat on.
A slightly worried look appeared on the Doctor's face. He knew that she was getting very irritated with staying home all day, she was used to running around all the time, just like he was. "I'm sure Billy will be here soon, Kari. And then it's back to travelling through all of time and space." He told her, hoping that it would cheer her up, even just a little.
"Yeah, of course he will." She replied, clearly not believing him that much, not since he had been saying it for over two weeks now.
The Doctor let out a sigh. "Kari, I know you don't like all this waiting around. But I thought you'd enjoy the peace and not running around for once." He told her.
"Doctor, I love having all this free time to spend with you. I'm not all moody because of that, it's because you and Martha are deciding things for me." Kari said, hoping that he would understand how she was feeling. "Being able to just sit around with you and do whatever we want is great, but you and Martha made the decision that I wasn't going to work anymore. That is what has annoyed me."
He looked at her, the realisation hitting him. Kari was right they had decided for her and not really given her much choice in the matter. He just didn't want anything else to happen to her, not after how worried he got when he saw her standing there with those Angels. He didn't really want to let her out of his sight in case something happened to her. He was being a little protective, maybe over protective.
"I know, and I'm sorry. Kari, you know I only want to keep you safe, don't you?" He asked her, taking a hold of both her hands. "When I saw you with the Angels, I was scared. I just want to protect you." He told her softly, gazing into her eyes the whole time.
"I'm sorry, I know. It's just… I feel kind of useless now. I mean, you had to make that device, Martha has to work, and I get to do nothing." She told him, finally getting her coat on and buttoned up. "I want to pull my weight, and actually do something."
"Oh, but Kari, you do actually do things." He told her, taking her by surprise and pulling her close so that he could hold her. "You cook for us, you clean up after us, and you're the one taking care of all of us. It's you who makes sure there is food for us to eat, you make lunch for Martha, you make sure she gets up on time and have coffee and breakfast waiting for her when she gets up. You make sure dinner is ready for her the moment she walks through the door." The Doctor reminded her softly. "You do so much for us, you do more than me."
"Well. This is my house, I kind of have to do those things." Kari mumbled into his jacket. "You know, be a gracious host and all of that."
The Doctor pushed her away a little so that he could look at her properly. "No, you don't. We're your friends, more than that, we're your family. Martha and I are grown adults, we can do everything for ourselves, but you do it all for us, without even realising it."
"I just want to be useful, Doctor. I still don't think it's fair that Martha has to work to support all three of us."
He let out a sigh, knowing that he wasn't really going to be able to get through to her. The Doctor knew how much Kari could doubt herself sometimes, and this was really turning into one of those times. "Come on, let's get to the café before Martha finishes. One meal out isn't going to break the bank." He told her, planting a kiss on her forehead before opening the front door.
They walked to the café in silence, the Doctor holding onto Kari's hand tightly as his eyes scanned anything and everything. He was still worried that there could be more Angels around, and he wanted to make sure nothing was going to happen to Kari. He could admit that he always felt so lost when she wasn't around, even if she was only gone for a few mere minutes, because it always felt like an eternity to him.
It didn't take them long to reach their destination, and they reached it just as Martha was heading out of the door. "Hello you two, what are you doing here?" Martha asked the pair, a smile on her face.
"Well, Kari kept saying I was cheating at Monopoly when I wasn't…"
"Yes you were." Kari mumbled, interrupting him.
The Doctor just rolled his eyes a little. "So we decided…"
"You decided. Again."
"To come and meet you so we can all go for a walk and have dinner out tonight." He finished, putting his hand over Kari's mouth before she could say anything else. He had a feeling that she was going to go into her little speech about there being food at home and that eating out was wasting money, but he felt that it would do them all good to get out for a bit.
"That'll be nice." Martha said, keeping the smile on her face, but letting the worry seep from her eyes and to the Doctor. "Kari could do with a night off from cooking."
The Doctor returned her smile, hoping that maybe she would be able to talk to Kari and help to change the bad mood that seemed to be setting in. "My thoughts exactly. So come on, walk around the park and then off for dinner." He said, finally moving his hand from Kari's mouth and starting the walk towards the local park.
Kari ended up in between the Doctor and Martha, knowing that the pair of them was sending silent messages to each other. "You know, just because no words are coming out of your mouths, doesn't mean I can't hear you." She grumbled, kicking a stone that was in her path.
Martha let out a sigh, knowing that they had been caught. "We're worried about you, Kari. Ever since what happened at the bar, you just haven't been yourself." She said to her friend, finally voicing her concerns. Martha had tried not to bring it up, from fear it may upset her friend, but looking back that may not have been the best idea.
"I'm fine, Martha." Kari told her, her tone rather flat. "Absolutely peachy."
"No, you're not. I know you Kari, maybe not as well as the Doctor does, but I know something is bothering you." Martha insisted. She was right, she did know Kari, they were good friends and spent many nights in the TARDIS sitting up and talking without the Doctor knowing. But for Kari, none of that had happened yet. "You need to talk to us, we're you friends, and we just want to help you."
Kari finally let out a sigh and stopped walking, making the Doctor and Martha stop as well. "Okay, so maybe I'm really not all right. I jumped and ended up at a creepy old house in the rain, and I knew what was coming, I knew what was there. I help Sally, get a letter from her best friend who was taken by the Angels, go with her to the police, sneak into the TARDIS and get pulled somewhere else." She said, trying to keep herself together. "I had no clue where I was, the Doctor wasn't there, and I was scared. My brother helped me, told me where to go. The next day you two arrive and I was happy, because I wasn't alone. Then on my first night at work, I almost get hit by a car." She told them, making the pair both go wide-eyed.
"What? Why didn't you tell me about this?" The Doctor asked her, clearly upset that she hadn't told him and worried at the same time.
"My friend, she saved me. She pulled me out of the way, she saved my life." She told him, trying her best to ignore the water that was now building in her eyes. "But I couldn't save her, not this time. The Angels came and they took her away from me. All my new friends were taken away from me. And then, there's this stupid thing with the tine vortex, allowing me to destroy the Angels. It scares me."
Within an instant, the Doctor's arms were firmly around her, holding her tightly as she finally came out with everything that was getting to her. "Oh, Kari." He said with a sigh.
"This time vortex thing scares me, I mean really scares me. I don't know what it really is, or what I can do. And I'm terrified that one day, I might loose control of it and hurt someone I care about." Kari mumbled, blinking and trying so hard to hold back the tears.
"I'm sorry, Kari." The Doctor whispered to her, letting one of his hands gently roam through her hair. "Sometimes I forget just how different you really are."
She sniffed a laugh. "Thanks."
"Kari, you are so different to anyone I have ever met, and I've met a lot of people. And out of all those people, every single one of them, I have never met someone who shows so much emotion, and so much strength. You have such a complicated life, we both do, but you always seem to push yourself through it, the good and the bad." The Doctor told her. "But no matter what happens, I will always be here for you, every single time."
Kari was starting to hate the way that she always seemed to get emotional. It was as if every little thing managed to set her off. At first she would get moody, annoyed and angry when everyone was keeping secrets from her. Then came the time when she actually left the Doctor, because of how angry she was with him and the way he was treating her. After that, it all just seemed to spiral downward, completely breaking down into tears more often than not. And she hated it, because it made her feel weak, and the Doctor deserved to be with someone who wasn't as weak as she was.
"Sorry, I'm sorry." She managed to mumble. "I'm always such a mess, aren't I. Always finding something to cry about." She knew she needed to pull herself together, to stop being so weak.
Kari had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down and stop the tears from spilling down her cheeks. It had actually been a while since she had completely broken down like that, the last time being when the Dream Lord had made an appearance.
She was about to say something else when she heard a bleeping and whirring noise coming from the Doctor's pocket. Kari pushed herself away from him completely and dug deep into his pockets, before tugging out the device that he had destroyed half of her kitchen appliances for to make. "Uh, Doctor, I think Billy may have arrived."
"Oh, I think you're right." The Doctor said, putting the telephone receiver to his ear. "Looks like we have another for dinner. Come on, we better go and get him." He said, dragging Kari along with him as he raced out of the park and back towards the main streets.
Soon enough they found a man who Kari recognised, slumped against the wall in an ally. She knew he must have been feeling disorientated, she could tell by the way he was trying to blink the spots out of his eyes.
"Welcome!" The Doctor called to him, as the trio approached, the device still beeping and whirring in the Doctor's hands.
"Where am I?" Billy asked them, as they got a little closer.
"1969. Not bad, as it goes. You've got the moon landing to look forward to." The Doctor told him, not noticing the strange look that the man was giving Kari. He was looking at her as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Oh, the moon landing's brilliant. We went four times, back when we had transport." Martha said, giving the Doctor a very firm look.
"Yeah, calm down, Miss Jones, we're working on it." Kari told her quietly, watching the confusion on Billy's face.
The question she had been waiting for him to ask soon came from his lips. "How did I get here?"
Kari just looked at the Doctor, waiting for him to explain. "Same way we did, well, Martha and I. The touch of an Angel. Same one, probably, since you ended up in the same year." The Doctor told him, before sliding down the wall and sitting on the ground beside him, taking Kari with him since he wouldn't let her go. "No, no. No, no, no, don't get up. Time travel without a capsule. Nasty. Catch your breath. Don't go swimming for half an hour."
"You'll be all right, Billy." Kari told him, giving him a sad smile. She knew what was coming next, and she knew he wasn't going to like it.
"Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye." The Doctor explained. "You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. All your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy."
Billy just looked at him blankly, before leaning forward a little to get a glimpse of Kari. "What in God's name are you talking about?"
"Tip for the future, just smile and nod. He's about to go into another little rant." Kari told him, ready and waiting for the Doctor to leap straight into the next part of his explanation.
"Tracked you down with this." The Doctor told him, showing him his home made device. "This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."
"I don't understand. Where am I?" Billy asked once more.
Kari let out a sigh, shifting over the Doctor a little so that she could speak to the man better. "You're in 1969, Billy. That statue that you were looking at, the Angel with its hands covering its eyes? That was a Weeping Angel, and a touch from an Angel sends you back in time." She explained to him, knowing more about what had happened than even the Doctor did.
"You were there, with Sally Sparrow." Billy said, pointing a finger at Kari. "We both saw you, you went into the police box and never came back out."
"Yeah, it's… complicated. I ended up getting sent back to 1969 as well. Except, I've been here for a few weeks, but only a day or so longer than these two." Kari told him, nodding to the Doctor and then Martha.
"Normally, we'd offer you a lift home." The Doctor told him, bringing him out of his shock. "But somebody nicked our motor. So I need you to take a message to Sally Sparrow. And I'm sorry, Billy. I am very, very sorry. It's going to take you a while."
They stayed there for a few more minutes, Billy still collecting himself and letting everything sink in while Kari looked at him with worry. She knew he was going to be all right in the end, that he would have a happy life, but she knew it was going to be hard for him.
Eventually they all found themselves back at Kari's house. Billy was shocked at the size of it and the fact that everything seemed so much more modern and advanced that what you would find in 1969.
Martha was making him a cup of tea when there was a knock at the door. Kari was quick to head to the front door and open it. "Hi." The brunette woman said, a smile on her face as she held onto a rather large box. "From your brother. He said everything you need is in here."
"Uh, right. Thank you." Kari told her, taking the box from the woman. "I take it his was too busy to make an appearance himself?"
The woman just smiled at her. "Yes. That and he said there was someone who wasn't ready to see him yet."
Straight away Kari knew exactly what the woman was saying. The Doctor was there, and the next time that the Doctor saw Jack was when he decided to cling to the side of the TARDIS. "Well, tell him I said thanks, and that I'll be back to visit again soon."
"I will, it was nice to finally meet you, Kari." The woman said, before turning away and walking down the path.
Kari just dragged the large cardboard box inside before slamming the door closed. "Oi, Doctor!" She shouted, getting him to poke his head out of the kitchen. "We got a delivery from my big brother."
"Oh, lovely. I wonder what he could have sent us." He said, coming out into the hallway to join her.
"Only one way to find out." Kari told him, before grabbing her keys and using them to cut through the tape, opening the box up. The first thing she pulled out was a large brown envelope, addressed to Billy Shipton. "Billy, you got some mail!" She called to him, passing it over to the Doctor so she could keep looking. "It's from my brother, probably something to help you get settled and everything." Kari told him noticing the Doctor pass it to him out of the corner of her eyes.
"But, how could anyone even know I was here?" Billy asked as he opened up the envelope.
"Ah, well, uh, it's complicated." Kari replied, still looking through the box. "But long and short of it all, I knew you were coming, he knew you were coming, we all knew you were coming. My big brother has probably set you up a whole life here, knowing him."
The moment she said that, Billy pulled out a passport, driving licence, and anything else he would ever need to start his life again. "Your brother done all of this?" Billy asked, getting a nod as Kari's eyes went wide at what she saw in the box. "But, this is illegal."
She couldn't help but chuckle a little. "He works outside the government and beyond the police. And I am so glad that he does. Doctor, look at all this tech he sent us." Kari said, pulling out a video camera, followed by another, and then another. "Everything we need is all here. We can get started with making the easter egg now."
A few hours later, after helping Billy to sort through all his new documents for his life in 1969, they had finally set everything up to record the message to Sally.
"Right, everything is all set, and the camera is rolling." Kari said, hitting the record button as the Doctor went and sat down, putting his glasses on, Martha taking charge of the autocue.
"Yup. That's me." The Doctor said, while Kari played out everything that was happening at Sally's end in her head.
She watched the Doctor talking to the camera, hearing Sally and Larry in her head now as well. She found it rather amusing, the Doctor reading the autocue while Kari just stood there grinning away.
"I'm a time traveller. Or I was. I'm stuck in 1969." The Doctor said, looking straight at the camera.
Suddenly, Martha decided to push her way into view as well. "We're stuck. All of space and time, they promised me. Now I've got a job in a shop. I've got to support them." She moaned.
Kari let out a groan of annoyance, while the Doctor just sent her away again and back to her post. She knew it was going to be a long evening, and she really wished she had brought a nice cup of tea with her so she could enjoy the performance.
"People don't understand time. It's not what you think it is." The Doctor said.
"Then what is it?" Kari muttered to herself. Knowing that was what Sally said.
"Complicated." The Doctor replied, his eyes going from the camera lens to Kari for a brief second. "Very complicated."
Kari couldn't help but let a smirk form on her face as she mumbled Sally's words. "I'm clever and I'm listening. And don't patronise me because people have died, and I'm not happy. Tell me."
The Doctor let out a sigh. "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a…"
This time, Kari couldn't help but say it out loud. "Big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey, stuff." She said, the same time as the Doctor.
He just looked up at Kari, tilting his head to the side a little. He shook it a little, before turning his attention back to the camera. "It got away from me, yeah." He paused, waiting for Sally's next line. "Well, I can hear you. Well, not hear you exactly, but I know everything you're going to say."
Kari just couldn't resist, and slowly stepped around the camera, knowing what was going to happen next. "Look to your left." Kari said, poking her head into view of the camera and giving a little wave. "Hello! We have a copy of the finished transcript. It's on the Doctor's autocue. Oh, and sorry for disappearing on you like that, Sally. Apparently I needed to get stuck in 1969 as well."
She frowned when she saw the response on the autocue. 'Kari, I thought you were dead. I thought you had just disappeared like Kathy had.' She hadn't actually seen the transcript, the Doctor hadn't let her, and now she knew why.
"Uh, yeah, well it was something similar to what happened to Kathy." Kari told her, shifting nervously. "Anyway, back on track, Miss Sparrow. Remember, we do have the completed transcript."
'How can you have a copy of the finished transcript? It's still being written.'
"The Doctor told you, we're time travellers. He got it in the future." Kari told the woman, completely forgetting that she was taking over what the Doctor was meant to be doing.
'Okay, let me get my head around this. You're reading aloud from a transcript of a conversation you're still having?'
The Doctor rubbed his head a little while Kari rolled her eyes. "Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey." The pair said at the same time.
"What matters is, we can communicate. We have got big problems now. They have taken the blue box, haven't they? The Angels have the phone box." The Doctor said, suddenly turning very serious. "Creatures from another world."
Kari shifted uncomfortably in front of the camera, causing the Doctor to tug at her waist, getting her to partially sit in his lap. "Only when you see them." Kari said, taking a deep breath.
"The lonely assassins, they used to be called. No one quite knows where they came from, but they're as old as the universe, or very nearly, and they have survived this long because they have the most perfect defence system ever evolved." The Doctor said, gently rubbing Kari's back, sensing that she was getting nervous.
"They are quantum locked. They don't exist when they're being observed." Kari said to the camera. "The moment they are seen by any other living creature, they freeze into rock."
The Doctor nodded, confirming what Kari had said. "No choice. It's a fact of their biology. In the sight of any living thing, they literally turn to stone. And you can't kill a stone." At that, Kari could help but clear her throat. "Shush. Of course, a stone can't kill you either. But then you turn your head away, then you blink, and oh yes it can."
"That's why they cover their eyes." Kari told her, knowing that there was an Angel with them now. "They're not weeping. They can't risk looking at each other."
"Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. They can never been seen. The loneliest creatures in the universe. And I'm sorry. I am very, very sorry. It's up to you now." The Doctor said, knowing that the conversation was coming to an end. "The blue box, it's our time machine. There is a world of time energy in there they could feast on forever, but the damage they could do could switch off the sun. You have got to send it back to us."
Kari was feeling even more nervous now, as she knew that Sally and Larry were about to be running for their lives, running to the TARDIS and away from the Angels. "And that's it, I'm afraid. There's no more from you on the transcript, that's the last I've got." The Doctor told her. "I don't know what stopped you talking, but I can guess. They're coming. The Angels are coming for you. But listen, your life could depend on this…"
"Don't blink." Kari said along with the Doctor. "Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away and don't blink." They finished together.
"Good luck." The Doctor said finally.
"Go, Sally. For God sake, go." Kari called, before Martha hit the pause button on the camera. "They will do it. They will make it to the TARDIS, activate security protocol seven two one, and send her back in time to us."
"Do you know where and when the TARDIS is going to show up?" Martha asked her, coming over to where she was still resting on the Doctor's lap.
Kari shook her head at the woman. "Not a clue, sorry. But we need to make sure that Billy is settled before we go anywhere. He'll have a good life, you know. Meet a woman called Sally, get married, have kids. He'll be happy, just like Kathy was. And just like…" she had to stop herself, stop herself from saying the names of two other people who the Doctor had yet to meet.
"Just like who?" The Doctor asked her, the slightest hint of worry in his voice.
All she could do was turn and smile at him. "Spoilers. Now, I'm going to bed. Feel free to join me when you have cleared all this lot up and done whatever else it is you need to do." She said, pushing herself up from the Doctor and making her way up to her bedroom.
Kari was exhausted, emotionally and physically. The ordeal with the Angels was all over of Sally and Larry, but they still had to wait for the TARDIS, and they still needed to make sure that Billy was settled into his new life. She just hoped that it wouldn't be too long till it was all over and they had their blue box back.
A/N: Well guys, I hope you all enjoyed that. So maybe I lied, and we haven't quite finished Blink yet.
Now, to answer questions from your reviews.
1. Yes I will be doing Day of the Doctor.
2. Yes I will be doing The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith and The Death of the Doctor.
3. Yes I am still planning another story for Doctor's 1-8, I'm just trying to get the episodes I want to do first on DVD before I start writing them.
4. A LOT of people have requested Midnight, trust me, it's on it's way.
5. Yes the Master will be coming in to play soon.
6. Yes there is going to be even more Clara soon (and of course more Jack).
7. My episode list is a secret, mainly because it keeps changing while I'm writing. I wrote 'After the Library' before I had even written the episode.
8. I love you all! Oh, wait, that wasn't a question but I'm saying it anyway.
I will trying to respond to your reviews more often now, just to let you know how much I appreciate them. So thank you to everyone who has read this story, all of you who have favourited or followed, and especially all of you wonderful people who have reviewed.
I'm going to go now, before I do a Kari and get all emotional for no damn reason. But I will warn you, I'm planning something big for the New Year! Bwahahahaha!
Love you all!
Pippa.