A/N: Hello all, we have the next chapter. I really am sorry if there are loads of mistakes, either spelling or grammatical, I promise to try to get around to fixing them. I'm a bit pushed for time today, as I was yesterday, but I'll explain later, enjoy the chapter.
Kari could feel the tension between the Doctor and Donna floating in the air around her. She understood what Donna was saying, and she knew exactly how she was feeling. Kari didn't want to see the whole town die, for all those people to burn when the volcano erupts and are buried under the ash and lava. Just the thought of it all made Kari feel guilty.
What she knew just made things even worse, she knew what was going to happen, what they were going to do, and it made her feel sick to her stomach. It made her realised just how difficult things were for the Doctor when he had to make those kinds of decisions. With all that power over time and space, and there were just some things that he had to watch happen.
She felt a tug on her hand and looked up at the Doctor. He was giving her that look, the worried look that asked her if everything was all right. "I'm fine, just… thinking about what Donna said. All these people, Doctor, they are all just going to die tomorrow." Kari knew that she had to tell him how she was feeling, otherwise he would keep on pestering her to know what was wrong.
"Kari, you know we can't save everyone." The Doctor replied, letting out a sigh as they slowed their run. "Pompeii is a fixed point, it has to happen. I know you wish we could save everybody, but we can't, you know we can't."
"Yeah, I know, but try to understand how this is making Donna feel. She doesn't understand it like that, all she can see is thousands of people burning, and us letting it happen." She quickly glanced behind and saw Donna still there, still trying to catch up to them. Kari couldn't blame Donna for getting angry with the Doctor, for giving him attitude, she would have been like that if she had been in her shoes.
All the Doctor could do was give her a half-hearted smile before his grip on her hand tightened as the ground started shaking beneath them once more. Lucky for them, they had just reached the villa as the rather big grumble made the ground shake, and the Doctor reached out to catch a marble bust that was about to fall to the ground. "Whoa! There you go." He said, slapping the cheeks of the bust with a smile on his face.
But Kari was just gazing at the man before them, trying her hardest not to grin like an idiot. "Thank you, kind sir. I'm afraid business is closed for the day. I'm expecting a visitor." The man told them.
It was weird for Kari, to see his face on another man, to see it and know that it really wasn't him. But there were slight differences, the hair of the man before her wasn't so grey, even the eyebrows weren't the same. They weren't as bushy, as wild as the ones she had seen and knew. Now that she really looked at the man, it was just the face that was the same, the surrounding features were not right, they weren't the same.
"Well, that's me, I'm a visitor." The Doctor told him, sounding like his normal, excitable self. "Hello." His hand had reached out and grabbed hold of Kari's once more, not that she was going to complain, she was still trying to focus on not breaking into giggles at the face she was seeing.
The Doctor then just wandered into the man's home without a care in the world. "Who are you?" The man demanded to know, following as the Doctor walked further into his home.
"I am… Spartacus." The Doctor announced, causing Kari to simply roll her eyes. She knew what was coming next, and she wondered if it was going to change, like when they had met Agatha Christie.
Donna quickly stood on the other side of the Doctor, a confident look on her face. "And so am I."
Caecilius, the man of the house, looked at Kari expectantly and she knew she had to give a name as well. "I'm Kari." She told him, knowing that there was no point in even bothering to lie. "Or Mrs Spartacus." She couldn't help but give the Doctor an elbow in the rib for that, for giving the name Spartacus.
"Oh, then you must be brother and sister?" He said to the Doctor and Donna, looking between the pair. "Yes, of course. You look very much alike."
Obviously the Doctor and Donna both looked at each other. "Really?" The way that they said that at the same time made Kari giggle, just a little. It was amusing to see the way the pair had just looked at each other, both slightly shocked and the Doctor with a hint of curiosity on his face as well.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not open for trading." Caecilius told them all once again, standing in front of them while his wife and son were visible sitting behind where he was, watching the whole scene playing out. They were curious as to who the three visitors were as well.
"And that trade would be…?" The Doctor asked, his eyes roaming around the room, locating his big blue box and trying to figure out how they could get to it and just leave.
Caecilius smiled at them, prepared to tell them all about his work. "Marble. Lopus Caecilius, mining, polishing and design thereof. If you want marble, I'm your man."
Kari knew what the Doctor was going to do next, she saw him reach inside of his jacket and into his pocket out of the corner of her eye. "That's good. That's good, because I'm the marble inspector." He said, flashing the man his psychic paper before walking straight into the home without even waiting for a response from Caecilius.
"By the gods of commerce, an inspection." The wife of Caecilius said, a slight hint of panic in her voice before taking the goblet that her son had been about to drink from. "I'm sorry, sir. I do apologise for me son." She told them, as she poured the wine away.
Caecilius and his wife both ignored the protests from the son in regards to what had been his drink. "And this is my good wife, Metella. I must confess, we're not prepared for a…"
The Doctor didn't need him to say anything, he had found what he had been looking for. "Nothing to worry about. I'm sure you've got nothing to hide. Although, frankly, that object rather looks like wood to me." He commented, pointing to the blue box and walking over to it, taking Kari with him as he didn't seem to want to let go of her hand at all. "What do you think? Does that look like wood to you?"
Kari looked up and saw the he was actually talking to her. "Oh, yes. This is most certainly wood." She told him, rapping her knuckled on the side of it a few times. "Definitely wood, not marble."
"I told you to get rid of it." They heard Metella tell her husband in a hushed, annoyed voice.
There was still a panicked look on the man's face as he rushed over to where the Doctor was standing with Kari to one side and Donna on the other. "I only bought it today." He said in defence, hoping that it would give him a little leeway with the marble inspector.
"Ah, well, caveat emptor." The Doctor told him, clicking his tongue as he did. He was making it seem as if the man had just suffered a little bit of bad luck.
"Oh, you're Celtic." Caecilius said, thinking the Doctor was Welsh due to the fact that he had spoken something in Latin. "There's nice."
The Doctor paid no attention to him as he pretended to be inspecting the wooden box. "I'm sure it's fine, but I might have to take it off your hands for a proper inspection." He said, watching Kari as she just rested her hand on the side of the box. He couldn't help but frown a little as she let out a sigh and closed her eyes tightly. There was something going on that she wasn't telling him, he was sure of it now.
"Although, while we're here, wouldn't you recommend a holiday, Spartacus?" Donna asked, drawing his attention away from Kari and his ship.
He looked at her, knowing exactly what she was doing. "Don't know what you mean, Spartacus." The Doctor quickly glanced back at Kari, and noticed how her eyes were scrunched up even tighter now.
"Oh, this lovely family, mother, and father, and son. Don't you think they should get out of town?" Donna was too busy with her own little ploy to notice that the Doctor was half distracted and kept glancing backwards.
There was confusion on Caecilius' face and that of his wife as well. "Why should we do that?" He asked, having no idea what was going on.
Donna simply looked at him, why the Doctor reached back and took a hold of Kari's hand, gently tugging her away from the blue box. "Well, the volcano for starts." The red head told the parents of the family, only just sparing a glace at Kari. She noticed the Doctor had an arm around her, and that a tear had managed to sneak out of the corner of her eye.
Caecilius looked to his wife for help before turning back to Donna. "What?"
"Volcano."
"What ano?" It was clear to see that he had no idea what she was talking about.
But Donna was ready to change all of that. "That great big volcano right on your doorstep." Her London accent was really coming through now, just like it did every time she got a little riled up. All she wanted to do was help them, to get the out of there and save their lives.
Suddenly, she felt a hand rest on her arm. "Oh, for shame. We haven't even greeted the household gods yet." Kari said, giving Donna very firm look. Her eyes were glowing, but only slightly, very dimly. You had to know that her eyes could do that to even notice it, otherwise it just looked like she was crying. "Donna, that don't know what it is." She ended up telling her, after taking her to one side with the Doctor. "Vesuvius is just a mountain to them, it hasn't blow yet."
"The Romans haven't even got a word for volcano. Not until tomorrow." Kari had deliberately not mentioned that, but she should have realised that the Doctor would end up saying it anyway.
The look on Donna's face just showed that she was disgusted. She wasn't happy with the way that the Doctor was refusing to do anything, that he was happy to just let all of those people die. "Oh, great, they can learn a new word as they die." There was definitely some bite in her tone as she spoke to the Doctor.
"Donna, stop it." The Doctor ended up snapping at her, seeing that it was upsetting Kari once more. He understood that it was hard for her, he didn't like it either but there was nothing that he could do. "That's enough now."
But the woman had a mind of her own, and it was very rare that she actually listened to someone and did what someone told her if she didn't really want to. "Listen, I don't know what sort of kids you've been flying around with in outer space, but you're not telling me to shut up." She snapped at him. "That boy, how old is he, sixteen? And tomorrow he burns to death." Her eyes were focused on the son of the house, the young lad who still had so much to live for.
"And that's my fault?" Kari gently squeezed the Doctor's hand when he said that, letting him know that she was there to support him, no matter how hard the situation was. She would stand by him through so much, the good and the bad, and this was one of the times that seemed pretty grim.
"Right now, yes." The woman from Chiswick's voice was dripping with venom. This wasn't what she had signed up for, she wanted to see planets and amazing places, and she wanted to travel and explore the universe, not get caught in a situation where everyone was about to die.
"Listen, the pair of you really need to shut up now." Kari ended up snapping at the pair. She was very quickly loosing her temper with the way that they were carrying on. "Doctor, I know you want to get out of here, but will you just calm down a little. And Donna, I know you want to save everyone, I want to save everyone as well, but I know that isn't possible." The longer they were there, the more Kari thought about things, and the more it upset her.
One of the servants came into view and addressed his master, causing the trio in the corner to keep silent. "Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, Chief Augur of the City Government." He said, stepping to one side as a man walked in, guards behind him.
"Lucius! My pleasure, as always." Caecilius said cheerfully, walking over to greet the man while the Doctor began to take in interested in the new arrival while Metella ordered her son, Quintus, to stand up and show some respect. The groan that he let out showed that he really wasn't happy with the way his day was heading. "A rare and great honour, sir, for you to come to my house." He held out his hand so shake that of Lucius, but the man simply glared at him.
"The birds are flying north, and the tine is in the west." Lucius told the man, a rather serious look on his face. He didn't look as if he laughed very often, he looked rather serious, and boring.
It was clear from the expression on Caecilius' face that he had absolutely no idea what those words meant. "Quite. Absolutely. That's good, is it?" The confusion was evident in his voice as well as on his face.
"Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow."
"There now, Metella, have you ever heard such wisdom?" He was pretending to understand what the man was saying, when the only person that really knew what the Doctor.
Even Metella pretended to know what was going on around her and what he meant. "Never. It's an honour." Even when she spoke to him, his stone, grim expression never changed. He was constantly scowling, at least that was what Kari thought.
Kari was trying not to think too much, she was trying to keep her eyes focused on a single spot on the floor. She had wanted to get back to the Doctor so badly, and she had wanted to spend time with him, but instead she was thrown straight into an adventure where she knew so many people were going to die. She was trying to find something to distract herself, but that was never going to work, there was only one way that she could be distracted, and now really was not the time.
Finally, Caecilius noticed that Lucius was looking at the trio standing over to the side. "Pardon me, sir, I have guests. This is Spartacus, Kari, and… uh, Spartacus." The Doctor and Donna both gave a little wave as they walked forwards, but Kari kept her eyes firmly fixed on the ground beneath her feet.
"A name is but a cloud upon a summer wind." Lucius said, gazing directly at the Doctor and no one else.
However, the Doctor seemed to be ready for him and had a response sitting on the tip of his tongue. "But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark." There was a hint of a smile on the Doctor's face as he finished.
Lucius was ready to wipe the smile right off his face. "Ah, but what is the dark, other than an omen of the sun?" Kari let out a sigh, knowing that the two men were going to have a battle of wits before trying to convince Donna that they had to leave.
"I concede that every sun must set." Lucius let out a triumphant cry, before the Doctor carried on. "And yet the son of the father must also rise."
The other man's face fell. "Damn. Very clever, sir. Evidently, a man of learning." Lucius was obviously disappointed that some stranger had managed to outwit him, but he was doing well to contain it.
The Doctor was really rather pleased with himself, and that was very plain to see on his face as he gave Kari's hand a squeeze. She looked up at him and just gave him a look, telling him not to even bother. She knew he was hoping that it had impressed her, but with the whole burning to death situation in the front of her mind, she had other things to worry about. Instead, he looked back at Lucius. "Oh, yes, but don't mind me. Don't want to disturb the status quo."
"He's Celtic." Caecilius leaned in and told the older man quietly, as if that explained everything.
"We'll be off in a minute." The Doctor told them, before resting a hand on Donna's shoulder and basically forcing her to walk away from the family and their guest.
Kari really didn't want to hear the pair arguing, and so quickly stepped in before she could say anything, and before the Doctor could force her into the TARDIS. "Doctor, I know you want to leave, but the thing is… there's something that doesn't feel right here." She couldn't tell him that she knew exactly what was going to happen, that would just make things worse.
The Doctor frowned at her a little. "Bad feeling?" Kari nodded at him, a grim look on her face. Usually her bad feelings meant something bad was going to happen, the Doctor knew that now, he had plenty of experience of it. "How bad?"
Before Kari had a chance to answer him, Caecilius was speaking. "The moment of revelation. And here it is." He had a piece of cloth whisked away to reveal something, something that Kari kept staring at. "Exactly as you specified. It pleases you, sir?"
The Doctor had noticed that Kari was gazing at something, and he quickly decided to take a look for it himself. He noticed a stone tile, with intricate carving on it, a carving that looked suspiciously like a circuit. Now, the Doctor was interested. "Oh, now that's different. Who designed that, then?" He asked, walking away from the TARDIS with Kari holding his hand tightly.
"My Lord Lucius was very specific." Caecilius told the trio, sound rather proud f himself. Obviously he was, he must have spend quite some time working on the slab of marble to create the design that was etched into it.
But the Doctor was frowning. "Where'd you get the pattern?" He asked, not even trying to mask his curiosity, and not even trying to be polite either.
Lucius simply looked at him. "On the rain and mist and wind."
"Yeah, and that looks like a circuit made of marble." Kari muttered quietly. She knew exactly what it was, and she knew that there were going to be more surprises along the way for them. Kari really wasn't looking forward to what they were going to discover, and the choice that was going to have to be made.
Donna looked at her, and then over to the man who still stood like he was royalty. "Do you mean you just dreamt that thing up?" She asked him, not entirely sure what to think of the whole thing. She could see that the Doctor had taken a slight interest in the matter, and she could see that Kari was drifting off into her own little world.
"That is my job as city Augur." The expression on his face was awful. Kari couldn't tell if he was scowling at them, or if it was just his natural face, but Lucius was definitely starting to freak her out. Of course, she know that things would get worse, she knew what he was doing and what he was hiding, and so far she had kept her resolve not to let the Doctor know that she knew what was going on.
"What's that, then, like the mayor?" The red head had absolutely no idea what he did, and a mayor was the best thing that she could think of. She just didn't know how far from right she was with the comment.
But the Doctor was quick to step in and cover up her mistake. "Oh, ah… you must excuse my friend, she's from… Barcelona." He told Caecilius and his with, who were still looking at them, while Lucius went back to gazing at the masterpiece of marble before him. Once all eyes were off them, the Doctor turned to Donna. "No, but this is an age of superstition, of official superstition. The Augur is paid by the city to tell the future. The wind blows from the west? That's the equivalent of the ten o'clock news."
Kari quickly and swiftly elbowed the Doctor and got him to shut up. "Disrespectful, Doctor. You don't know if they're able to see the future or not, so do not make fun of them." She had her reasons for being defensive, once being that he never seemed to make fun of her when she knew the future, but he was rather comfortable with commenting on other people who claimed they could. "You got it?" The Doctor nodded at her and kissed the top of her head.
"They're laughing at us." A new female voice called, resulting in everyone to turn and look at the owner of the voice. They found that it had come from a young woman in a pale yellow shimmering dress. "Those two, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us." Kari frowned a little, there were three of them, surely the young woman would have spoken about the three of them.
"No, no I'm not. I meant no offence." The Doctor told them all rather quickly, knowing that she had heard them speaking, knowing that she was not impressed with it.
"I'm sorry, my daughter's been consuming the vapours." Metella announced, walking over to her daughter proudly and wrapping an arm around her.
But her son seemed less proud, less happy with what his sister had been doing. "By the Gods, mother, what have you been doing to her?" He was shocked by the state of his sister. The pale, sickly skin and the layer of sweat that covered her forehead left him stunned.
"Not now, Quintus." His father snapped, not wanting there to be a family dispute in front of so many guests, especially one who was the city Augur.
"But she's sick." Quintus protested loudly. "Just look at her." It was clear that he was unhappy, but it was also clear that his mother and father were not going to listen to him and his concerns.
The only other person that was interested in the young woman was Lucius. "I gather I have a rival in this household." He stated, stepping towards where she was standing with her mother. "Another with the gift."
But it wasn't the daughter who answered the man, it was her mother, who was still standing with her, still proud and tall. "Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions."
Lucius simply scoffed, while Kari looked around nervously. She knew what was coming, and she wasn't entirely prepared for it, she had no idea what was going to be said about her. "The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only the menfolk have the capacity for true perception."
Donna, being Donna, just couldn't hold in her frustration and anger at the man. "I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate." She told rather calmly, sounding more fed up than annoyed, which Kari was surprised at.
The ground beneath them started to shake a little, and the Doctor's grip on Kari's hand tightened. He was actually concerned as to why she was being so quiet, but he just hadn't had the time to ask her yet. She was too busy worrying about what was going to happen, about how both Donna and the Doctor were going to feel. This was one of those times that she seriously hated knowing what was going to happen.
"The Mountain God marks your words. I'd be careful if I were you." Lucius snarled, but no one was really listening to him. Kari and the Doctor was both looking at the daughter, the young woman who looked like she was about to pass out at any second. Kari had a feeling she would have if her mother hadn't been there to help her stand.
There was something nagging at the back of the Doctor's mind, and knowing that Kari had a bad feeling just made it all worse. "Consuming the vapours, you say?" He asked, looking at just how weak she was.
"They give me strength." The young woman rebutted, her mother still holding her as she swayed a little.
"It doesn't look like it to me." The Doctor replied softy. He was actually treading carefully, because he could see that the while situation was fragile, plus he really didn't want to say the wrong thing.
The daughter looked at him, clearly unimpressed. "Is that your opinion, as a doctor?" She asked, taking him by surprise. It wasn't just him, Donna was a little shocked as well, it was only Kari who didn't seem fazed by anything that was going on around them.
"I beg your pardon?" Although he was being calm and polite, inside the Doctor was panicking, and scared.
"Doctor. That's your name."
The panic was rising in his chest, and he had to contain his fear from what she had said, and the only comfort the Doctor found was from the hand the squeezed his tightly. Realising that Kari was still there beside him, supporting him, he asked the question that he didn't know if he wanted to hear the answer to. "How did you know that?"
She ignored him, and looked at Kari, frowning slightly before her gaze fell on Donna. "And you, you call yourself 'noble'"
"Now then, Evelina, don't be rude." Metella said to her daughter, not knowing that what the younger woman had said had been completely true.
"No, no, no, not at all." The Doctor was actually interested to here what else she had to say, but Kari was a little more apprehensive. She had seen the woman look at her, frown at her as if she couldn't figure her out, and that worried her.
Evelina carried on, she would have carried on speaking regardless on what her mother or the Doctor said. "You all come from so far away, but she has come the furthest." She was pointedly staring at Kari, and it was making her feel uncomfortable. "You're the angel, flying through time."
Kari felt so uncomfortable that she ended up moving herself a little closer to the Doctor, her other hand now gripping onto his arm as well. She knew that she wasn't exactly a local, Kari wasn't a local to the universe she was in, that had been established for her when she met Sexy. She had been pulled from her own universe, and thrown into the Doctor's, and that was that.
Once again, Lucius scoffed, clearly not impressed. "The female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries."
The Doctor knew better, and so did Kari. "Oh, not this time, Lucius. I reckon you've been out-soothsayed." He managed to remove his arm from Kari's grip and wrap it around her, trying his best to give her some comfort in the situation.
"Is that so?" Lucius asked, pausing as there was another slight tremor. "Man from Gallifrey?"
"What?" Kari felt the Doctor tense up, and she could hear her own blood pounding in her ears. The whole air was filling with tension now, there was a showdown between two soothsayers, and they were stuck in the middle of it.
The tremors grew stronger before Lucius spoke once more. "The strangest of images. Your home is lost in fire, is it not?" The man said, before turning to look at Kari. "And you, you have no home, the daughter of time." At least Kari understood that, she understood that she was the daughter of time, because when the matrix of the TARDIS was transferred into the body of a woman, she said someone else was her child, and glanced at Kari. That one look told her everything.
"Doctor, Kari, what are they doing?" Donna asked them both in a hushed tone, noticing how the pair of them seemed disturbed by what was being said.
However, that drew the man's attention onto her. "And you, daughter of… London."
Now it was her turn to be a little freaked out. "How does he know that?"
"This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth." Even the look on his face was scaring Donna, as she declared that it was impossible, that there was no way that they could all be right with their predictions. She seemed to forget how much Kari knew, and how often she was right. "Doctor, Angel, she is returning."
Kari just looked at the man, the fear in her eyes growing when he called her Angel. There was only one who was allowed to call her that, and it certainly wasn't him. "Who is? Who's 'she'?" The Doctor asked him, just wanting some answers and not more questions.
As with before, the man didn't answer him, he just turned back to Donna once more. "And you, daughter of London, there is something on your back." Donna was panicking now, quickly glancing at her back, and her breathing showing that she was scared.
"What's that mean?" The red head asked, only just noticing how scared Kari really seemed to be. She was gripping onto the Doctor tightly, and his arm was around her tightly as well. It seemed that it was hitting them harder than they were showing.
"Even the word 'Doctor' is false." Evelina finally said, swaying even more and needing the support of her mother to keep herself standing. "Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. Only the Angel knows it, the Angel of Time that protects you and stands beside you. You are a lord, sir. A lord of time." The moment those words left her mouth, the girl collapsed and fell to the ground.
Both the Doctor and Kari rushed to her while her mother cried out her name. "She's all right, she's just fainted." Kari told them while the Doctor checked her over. "She'll be fine, she just needs to rest."
Quintus then appeared beside the Doctor, and gently shoved him out of the way before scooping his sister up in his arms. Kari and the Doctor both watched him, and they could see he was concerned for her and worried. From what they had heard, he also did not approve of her consuming the vapours and being promised to the sisterhood.
"So, what do you think about all of this then?" The Doctor called to Kari in her head, freaking her out a little. She had actually forgotten they could speak like that, it had just been such a long time since she had heard him in her head.
"I don't know, I don't like it. I still have that really bad feeling, and the longer we are here, the worse it seems to get." There was no way that she was going to tell him she knew everything that was going on, even though she had actually promised him that she wouldn't keep things to herself any more. "Something just doesn't seem right here, Doctor, I mean, what the both said…" That had freaked her out, what Evelina and Lucius had said, not just about her, about all of them.
The Doctor looked at her with a frown on his face. "Yeah, that was a bit… odd. They shouldn't be able to see things like that, they shouldn't really be able to see anything at all." It was definitely bothering him, Kari could see that he had his thinking face on, and although she thought he looked adorable with that face on, she knew it meant trouble.
"We have to stay a little longer, don't we?" She was trying to make it sound like she wasn't happy with staying, when she knew that they had to. "Something's bothering you, and you can't let it drop, can you?" Just from the look in the Doctor's eyes she could tell that he believed her worried act.
"I'm sorry, Kari, I know you want to get out of here, but you're right, something is bothering me and we have to stay and work it out." He told her, before planting a light kiss on her forehead, which caused her to let out a sigh. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."
Kari ended up wrapping her arms around his middle. "I know you will, I just hope we're not stuck here for too long." She knew that they would just about make it out in time, but it still scared her. She knew what was coming, and already she could hear the people screaming in her head as they burned. A nice cup of tea and a hot bath, that was what Kari wanted now, and to just spend some time with her sexy Doctor, but that was going to have to wait.
A/N: Well, I do hope that you all enjoyed that chapter and that you didn't encounter too many errors in my writing. I'm distracted and have lack of time since my nephew was born on Friday, so I visited him and it's all been pretty exciting.
Now onto the thanks. Hello and welcome to everyone who has favourited/followed the story over the past week, it's great to know that people are still finding the story and enjoying it. And for all you lovely, lovely people who have taken the time to leave a review, thank you all so, so much! Those review always make me smile and remind me of why I write in the first place.
Well, that's all for this week, until next time...
Pippa.