A/N: Hello everyone. Yes, I know this chapter is just over a day late, no I am not going to apologise for it. If I had posted yesterday when I was meant to then you would have had to suffer a half written piece of rubbish. I'm sure you can all understand how in the run up to Christmas life can get a little hectic, well mine certainly did. Well, I hope you enjoy it.
Kari was curled up on the sofa in the library with a steaming mug of hot chocolate in her hands. She was avoiding the Doctor slightly, afraid of the questions that he might have to ask her, all because she had kept it quiet that she knew what was going on. In her mind she could clearly remember the conversation that the pair of them had had the last time she decided not to tell him what was going on.
The Doctor hadn't been angry or upset with her, a little annoyed that she thought that it was better if she kept quiet and let him get on with, to let him shine, but never angry. Kari just hoped that he wouldn't be angry with her this time either for keeping everything she knew a secret, for not telling him that she knew what was going to happen, what they were going to do.
She raised the mug to her lips just as the door slowly, and silently, opened. "Thought I'd find you in here." The Doctor said, slipping into the room. "Everything all right?" She simply nodded at him as she took a sip of the hit drink in her hands. "Hmm, now why do I not believe that?" He asked, carefully lifting up her feet and sitting down, before letting her feet rest in his lap.
"Really, Doctor, everything is absolutely fine." Kari assured him, holding onto her mug tightly and staring at it. She had to avoid eye contact, because she knew that he would just gaze at her with his big sad eyes and try to get her to spill everything.
He looked at her curiously, before deciding to take another approach. "Well, while you've been lounging around in here, I've been doing a little bit of research." The Doctor told her, hoping to gain her interest soon. "Since the volcano eruption wasn't exactly what history said it was, I decided to dig a little deeper, see what else I could find out."
Kari had no idea where he was heading with the conversation. "Okay, and what did you find then? I assume you found something, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here telling me all about it." She had to act like she wasn't interested, and like she wasn't nervous, when in all honesty, she was freaking out inside.
"Well, I didn't find much actually." He told her, watching her as she took another sip of her hot chocolate. "Until I looked in the Sibylline Oracles." For a moment, Kari froze, but she quickly pulled herself back together. "It turned out that there was something else that history was wrong about."
"And what was that?" She asked him, trying to sound as disinterested as she could. Both of her hearts were pounding in her chest, it sounded to her like the Doctor had a point, a point that involved her.
But the Doctor had notice, he could see the nervousness on her face, and he could actually see the way her chest was pounding. "Well, they spoke of the Angel, a prophet who saved the lives of thousands of people during Pompeii's darkest hours." This time Kari froze for more than just a second, her eyes widening slightly as well. "It turned out, twenty thousand people didn't die, because the Sisterhood sacrificed themselves to get everyone else to safety. Now, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
That was it, Kari knew that she had been caught out once more. "Uh, not really." The look the Doctor gave her said that he really didn't believe her and that he would really like to know the truth. "Okay, so I might have said something to the Sisterhood. I may have mentioned the volcano and warned them to get everyone out."
Even then, the Doctor knew that she wasn't telling him everything, and he wanted to know everything. "Kari, what have we said about keeping secrets? I know you, and I know when you are lying to me and keeping things from me. So, do you want to tell me what just happened while we were in Pompeii?" It was clear that he just wanted her to tell him the truth to let him know what had really been going through her head during that time, and what she really knew.
"Where do you want me to start? Do you want me to start with the fact that I knew exactly what was going on and what was going to happen? Do you want me to tell you how I would have done anything to stop all of those people dying, even if it did change history? What do you want me to say, Doctor?" There was no way that Kari was really going to hold back. The whole time there she had been trying her best to ignore the terrible feeling in her stomach, because she knew what was going to happen, and she knew what the Doctor would have to do.
The Doctor simply let out a sigh. "I asked you if you knew what was going on, and you said no." There was a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Kari, why didn't you just tell me?"
Kari just shrugged at him. "Because I knew what was going to happen, and I wished that I didn't." Oh, how true that was. She had really hated knowing what was going to happen to all those people she had met, everyone she had passed in the street. It was never easy to know what was going to happen, but when something as terrible as a volcano erupting was on the cards, she didn't know how to handle it. "I knew what was going to happen to all of those people, and I knew, that no matter how hard I tried, I was never going to be able to save all of them."
At hearing that, the Doctor took the mug out of her hands and placed it on the small table beside him. He then gently moved her legs, and instead reached over to her and pulled her closer towards him. "I know how hard it is for you, Kari, I know that there are so many things that you wish you could change, that could be different. You have such a burden thrown upon you, but you always try to be so strong the whole time. You don't have to, you are allowed to struggle, just like everyone else." He told her softly, now understanding why she had been acting so strangely whilst they had been in Pompeii.
"Doctor, I struggled with it all right at the start, when all of this began, when my life changed. I seriously struggled then, and I don't want to be like that again. I don't want to be breaking down into tears for stupid reasons, I have to keep it together." Kari knew that if she didn't keep it together, the Doctor would just fuss and worry over her the whole time. That wasn't what she wanted, she wanted him to be proud of her, to look at her and just see a strong and confident woman, even if some of the times she wasn't.
"Oh, Kari, you don't have to keep it together. Not for me, not for anyone." The Doctor assured her. "You just have to be yourself, that's all. I know how much you care about people, about the whole universe, and I know that you will always do whatever you can to make things better." Kari's eyes drifted downwards, so the Doctor quickly reached out and placed a hand under her chin. "Kari, you saved them, not all of them, but much more than would have survived." His words made her frown at him. "You did save them."
She was slightly confused as to what it was that he was talking about. "What… what do you mean? Saved who? Who survived?"
A small smile crept into the Doctor's face. "Pompeii. You said something to the Sisters of the Sibylline, and whatever it was that you said made them do everything they could to evacuate the city." The Doctor told her. "The death toll was lower, much lower, than twenty thousand. So you see, you did save them, Kari, you changed it."
Kari had expected him to be mad at her, or at least upset at the fact that she had changed something from a fixed point in history, but the look on his face said something else. To her, it actually looked like he was proud. "I just… I just told her that people were going to die, that the prophecy they knew was wrong. I… I can't really remember it all." And the truth was she couldn't, she really couldn't remember everything she had said to Sister Spurrina.
"I don't care what you said, that doesn't matter, what matters is that you done it in the first place. The best I could do was save one family, and that was only because you and Donna had to pushed me. You care more about life than you do about the time lines." That was certainly true, he had seen it so many times before. Kari showed so much humanity, so much compassion, all of the time, and that was something that he loved about her.
"I can't help it. You know better than anyone else what it's like to see people die, whether you know them or not. You know just how unfair the universe is, Doctor, and sometimes I want to stop that." Kari admitted it him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but would it really have mattered if I did? You know that it had to be done, at the end, the volcano, there was no other option. I knew all about that, Doctor, how would you have really felt if I had told you what we were going to have to do?"
He understood what she was saying, he knew exactly what she meant. He didn't want to admit it, but the Doctor knew he would be angry, not at her, but at what they were going to have to do. "I get why you didn't tell me anything, Kari, I really do, but you should have said something, anything. I would never ask you to tell me everything,"
All Kari could do was nod at him. She had a feeling that he was going to be a little disappointed with her for not saying anything at all, but she had never expected him to be so calm about it all. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I know you keep telling me that if I know what's going to happen then I should let you know, but sometimes it's just to hard, especially when it's something so bad."
The Doctor just held her closer, knowing that she was doing all she could not to cry, to not break down in tears. He really did admire the way she tried to be so strong all the time, but he knew it was difficult for her. "Hey, it doesn't matter, all right? You did what you had to do, and it worked. You saved so many lives today, and I am so proud of you for all of it."
After that the pair just stayed there, Kari lying in the Doctor's arms while she tried her best to get past everything that had just happened. It wasn't easy, it was something awful that she had been a part of, but knowing that she had made a difference, that she had been there to help save more lives, that was better than nothing changing.
"Uh, where's Donna?" Kari asked after some time had passed, only now registering that her super temp had been with them. She had been so lost in her own little world that, for a moment, she had forgotten it wasn't just her and the Doctor in the TARDIS.
The Doctor couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Bath and bed. Been a bit of an emotional and long day for her as well." He told her, already knowing that she had been so far in her world that everything else had escaped her. "So, what would you like to do?"
Before Kari had the chance to answer him, a phone started ringing, causing her to frown at him. "Is that a phone?" She asked him, looking around and trying to locate the source of the noise. "Why do you have a phone in the library? A library is a quiet place, if there was a librarian here, she'd kick you out." The Doctor just rolled his eyes at her as he gently pushed her away so that he could get up.
"There was a librarian here once. I think the job was a bit too much for her, too many books." The Doctor commented, now standing up and walking around the sofa and down one of the many rows of books. "Actually, that reminds me of somewhere. If you think this is big, one day I'm going to take you to the biggest library in the universe. Every book ever published, all in one place."
Kari was glad that the Doctor couldn't see her, because she instantly froze up. She had already been there, and it felt like such a long time ago for her now, but she remembered it all so clearly. "Uh, yeah… yeah, that would be nice." She called back to him, wondering where he had actually placed that phone that was ringing.
Suddenly it went silent. The ringing had stopped, and she couldn't hear the Doctor's voice. Kari ended up straining her ears to her something, anything at all, in the silent library. It was actually a little creepy, and she just couldn't explain why.
"Uh, Doctor?" She ended up calling, turning her head and looking for him down between the bookshelves. "Doctor?" Kari kept quiet and waited a few more minutes, wondering if he had made it to the phone and was talking to someone, or if he had decided to go and get lost in there.
She was take by surprise when he popped his head out of a completely different row of books to where he had gone in. "Sorry about that, I honestly forget that phone was in here." The Doctor told her, coming out and wandering back over to the sofa. "You all right?"
Kari nodded at him. "Yeah, so who was on the phone? I take it you answered it, because everything suddenly went quiet." She wasn't going to tell him that she had been a little freaked out by how silent it had been, because in her opinion, it was just her being silly. She was in the TARDIS, she was protected, and the Doctor had been there somewhere.
"Ah, yes. The phone. Come on, there's no point hiding away in here. You're covered in dirt and could do with a bath." He told her, yanking her up from the leather sofa and pretty much dragging her out of the room. "I know you, and I know how much you enjoy your baths."
He was acting a little odd, at least that was what Kari thought. "Hmm, yeah, I do love my baths." She told him, trying not to let him see that she was suspicious of his actions. "Oh, a nice long bath that I can fall asleep in." The Doctor was leading her through the corridors now, and there was something about the smile that he was trying to cover that was making her suspicious grow.
"Well, you can have a nice bath, but no falling asleep." The Doctor warned her, stopping as they reached her room. Even though most of the time she was in the Doctor's bedroom these days, she still used her own bathroom. Plus, her clothes were mainly still in her room as well. "Try not to be too long in the bath. You still need to have something to eat."
There was definitely something going on, of that Kari was sure, and it had all started with that phone call. She had noticed that he completely ignored answering her when she asked about the call, asking who had been on the other end of the line. "Yeah, I'm not making any promises. You know what I'm like once I get in my bath, I'm lost in my own little world for a few hours." She was definitely going to take her time, especially since the Doctor was hiding something from her.
The Doctor kept a soft smile on his face as he looked at her. "Okay, well, enjoy your bath and I'll see you in a while." He told her before reaching down and pressing his lips against hers. Her head started to get a little fuzzy, as it always did at those moments.
Once they broke apart, her cheeks were flushed, which was also normal, and the Doctor had a massive grin on his face. "I'll… I'll see you in a bit." Kari mumbled, before opening the door to her room and quickly slipping in. She hated how she always blushed in front of him, especially after moments like that.
It had been a while since she had been in her room, and actually had time to look around. The first thing that Kari decided to do was to go through her wardrobe and find something to wear. She was still in that dress that Evelina had given her, and there was no way that she was going to keep on wearing it. She would get it washed, and they it would earn a special place in her own wardrobe, not the massive TARDIS wardrobe.
Kari settled on a pair of dark blue jeans and a cream top with butterflies printed on it. With her clothes decided, she headed into the bathroom to find that someone had already filled the bath up for her. She took a deep breath through her nose and was instantly hit by the smell if vanilla. "Oh, you are absolutely fantastic, Sexy." Kari really did love the way that the magical ship was always one step ahead, and always had the bath ready for her.
The moment she slipped into the bath, she forgot everything that had happened recently, all of the stress and worry just seemed to disappear. Her mind was completely blank as she soaked in the hot, bubbled water. It was the first time in a very long time that she was really, one hundred percent, completely relaxed. She even forgot all about that phone call that came through to the library.
Time seemed to just completely fly by, as Kari was finally disturbed from her relaxing bath when the room gave a little shake, spilling some of the water over the edge of the bath. She couldn't help but let out a groan. "Please don't tell me he wants me to get out of the bath already?" There was a little more shaking, and Kari knew that the ship was telling her that time was up and that the Doctor was expecting her to get out now.
With a heavy sigh she pushed herself out the bath, she really had been enjoy the warmth of the water, and the smell of vanilla. But now it was time for her to get back to reality, it was time to get dressed and go see what the Doctor wanted. She went to grab her clothes off her bed, but found that her jeans and top had been replaced with a dress. "Oh, come on. Really? You really expect me to wear a dress? I don't want to wear a dress." She moaned to the ceiling, looking at the deep blue dress that was draped on her bed.
It was with some reluctance that she put the dress on, making sure to take her time in doing so purely because she was not at all happy about wearing a dress. It was no surprise that when she had put the dress on she noticed the matching shoes sitting on the floor. Now she was certain that there was something else going on.
When she opened the door to her, Kari found the Doctor standing outside, leaning against the wall, waiting for her. "You took your time. Didn't she tell you that it was time to get out because I was waiting for you?" He asked her, straightening up his tie.
Kari just looked at him, a frown on her face. He was wearing his normal pin striped suit, but there was something else, something different, she just couldn't work out what it was. "Yeah, well, I don't like being told what to wear, especially when it's a stupid dress." She grumbled, tugging at it slightly.
"Ah, but you look beautiful." The Doctor told her, putting his hands on her hips and gently pulling her towards him. "You always look beautiful." He reached down and once again lightly pressed his lips against hers. She was now just getting more and more suspicious. "Now, let's go and see if we can find something to do."
She let the Doctor lead her to the console room, her head still in a bit of a daze. Kari was trying to work our what was going on but she just couldn't. The Doctor was up to something, of that she was sure, but working out what it was seemed to be a bit of a challenge for her.
"You're up to something." Kari suddenly blurted out as the Doctor wandered around the console while she sat down. "I know you, and you are up to something, I just haven't worked out what it is yet." It was really starting to bug her now, she just wanted to know what was going on.
The Doctor just smiled at her, before pulling down on the lever on the console and sending them hurtling through the time vortex. Everything about him was just screaming 'I'm up to something' in Kari's opinion, the way he was walking, the look on his face, it just looked like he had a plan going on inside of that head of his.
"Where are we going then?" Kari ended up asking him, seeing that he wasn't going to admit to being up to something. "Obviously you have some idea of what we are doing, since you forced me to wear a dress and have already sent us off somewhere." Kari hoped that he would tell her, but she had a feeling that there was no way he would tell her.
And she had been right. "Oh, you're just going to have to wait and see." He told her, still with that stupid smile on his face. All Kari could do now was sit down and wait until they had landed so that she could find out what the hell was going on.
It was only a few minutes later when the TARDIS finally landed, and Kari looked up at the Doctor. "So, are you going to tell me where we are now then?" Of course she was curious, she really wanted to know what was going on and where he was taking her.
The Doctor quickly bounced around the console and stopped when he was standing in front of her. "Nope. You're going to just have to wait a little longer." He told her, before yanking her up out of the chair and rushing over to the doors with her. "Okay, now, I want you to close your eyes."
Kari couldn't help but let out a sigh. "Really? You want me to close my eyes? Come on, Doctor, just tell me what's going on. I am so not in the mood for this. I'm hungry, and I'm tired. All I want to do is curl up on the sofa with you and maybe watch a few films until Donna wakes up. And when I say I'm hungry, that doesn't mean I want to go out to some fancy restaurant, or a super space diner, for something to eat. It means that I just want to sit down and have a quiet meal with you, that's all." She really did just want to sit down and spend some time with him. The last time she had seen him, that version of him, things really hadn't been too great, the Master had been there. She wanted to spend some time with him before she was pulled somewhere else, which she was surprised hadn't happened already.
Suddenly, the stupid grin that had been on the Doctor's face fell. "Kari, I'm not going to make you do anything that you don't want to. If you want to stay here, then we can. If you want to have something to eat and then go watch a few movies then that is fine with me. We don't have to open these doors if you don't want to." Those words just made her feel guilty.
It was clear that he had planned something, something for her, and all she had done was moan because he wouldn't tell her what was really going on. "I just want to know what's going on, Doctor. I'm not in the mood for surprises, it's been a really long day, and there is stuff I want to talk to you about." She wanted to talk to him about where she had been before, before she arrived there, before he saw the locket she was wearing.
His hand had initially been on the latch of the door, but now he was slowly moving it away. "Okay. What do you want to watch?" It seemed that the Doctor had now completely abandoned his plan, and was now going to do whatever it was that would make Kari happy.
Once again, she let out a sigh. "Doctor, listen to me, I just want to know what is going on. Clearly you had somewhere you wanted to go, that you wanted to show me. And that's fine, but there are times when I wish you would just tell me instead of trying to make everything a surprise." Kari told him, knowing that she had actually managed to upset him. She could see it, right there in his ancient eyes. "Let's make a deal, okay? You show me where we are, show me what you planned, after all, I am wearing this dress. And then, we come back, cuddle up on the sofa, and watch a few films."
He seemed to think about it for a few moments, before letting a small smile creep onto his face. "Oh, all right. If you really want to see where we are, then you can have a look. But, you still have to close your eyes, that's part of the deal too."
Kari groaned, before tightly squeezing her eyes shut. The Doctor waved his hand in front of her face a few times just to make sure that they really were closed, before he reached for the latch once more. As he turned it, Kari hear a slight squeaking, all her other senses heightened since she couldn't see a thing. It was a little unnerving, not being able to see and having to have someone guide her, but she knew some people had to live every day of their life like that, and she was lucky it was only for a few minutes.
The Doctor carefully guided her out of the TARDIS, holding onto both of her hands tightly and leading her forwards while he walked backwards. "Okay, now stop right there." He told her, dropping her hands and now holding onto his shoulders. Her body was turned to face another direction. "Right, now, open your eyes." The Doctor whispered to her.
Now that she was allowed to open her eyes, she was a little more reluctant to do so. Kari ended up taking a deep breath before slowly relaxing her face, and opening her eyes. She had to blink several times, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness. "Uh, where are we?" She asked, barely able to make out any shapes in the black that surrounded them.
Instead of the Doctor answering her, there was a chorus of voices that called out at once, making her jump a little. "Happy Birthday, Kari!" They all shouted, before the lights were quickly turned on.
Jack was standing there, in the middle of the boardroom at his underground base in Cardiff, with Tosh, Owen, and Gwen standing with him, while Ianto was stood by the light switch. They had really gone all out, as the place was filled with fairy lights and decorations, and a huge banner hanging across the room with happy birthday written across it. The table itself was covered with a range of party foods, as well as plenty of alcohol.
"What… what the…" Kari managed to stutter, utterly lost for words. What she was seeing was certainly not what she had expected at all. She had expected the Doctor to want to show her some amazing planet or something where they would go and have dinner, like a date night, she had never expected him to take her to a surprise birthday party.
"Nah, that's not our Kari." Owen announced, strolling towards her. "Our Kari doesn't get speechless." He quickly wrapped his arms around her, giving her a tight hug as he did. "Happy Birthday, Kari." He muttered in her ear, before letting her go. "Definitely not our Kari, this one is too shocked to even move. I think we should take her to visit Janet."
That quickly brought Kari back to her senses. "Or, how about we feed you to Myfanwy instead? Smother you with barbecue sauce and you're good to go, Harper." Kari ended up
"All right, so maybe it is our Kari after all." He grumbled, walking over to the table and grabbing a handful of something form one of the bowls before shoving it into his mouth.
Kari had been so busy giving Owen her playful, and yet somehow serious smile, she had failed to notice that there was someone now standing right beside her. Before she had a chance to even think about looking, she had been grabbed and was being hugged tightly. "How you doing, Princess?" A voice whispered to her, putting out the little hint of fear she had when she had been grabbed.
Straight away she threw her arms around her big brother and hugged him back even tighter, while he lifted her off the ground and spun her around a little. It was definitely a surprise, being taken to Torchwood to see her brother by the Doctor, and for them to be waiting for her to give her a surprise birthday party. She would have loved to stay in the TARDIS and just curl up with the Doctor, but this was even better, because the Doctor was actually there as well.
"It was you, wasn't it? You called the Doctor and set all if this up, didn't you, Jack?" Kari managed to ask him, while she tried to contain her happiness. It was one of the best surprises that that pair of them had ever managed to sneak past her. There was no way that she as going to complain about being tired now, as she suddenly have great burst of energy.
A/N: I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the kind messages and reviews last week. I was definitely having a bit of a bad time and feeling rather down, but you guys all reminded me that I shouldn't let those rotten people get to me, so I'm not going to.
So, an absolutely MASSIVE thank you to everyone that left a review last week, you guys are so awesome. And I just want to say welcome to all those who have favourited/followed the story over the past week as well.
I'm going to keep this short, I had my rant last week. Hopefully I will get the next chapter out at the usual time, if Christmas doesn't kill me first! Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy the holiday.
Pippa.