A/N: Hello everyone, I apologise for the long wait for this chapter. I've recently been back in hospital which has just hindered me some more. I have been working on it for weeks but something always seemed a little off with it. I'm happy with it now so I am pleased to share it with you. Enjoy!
Kari had given Yaz, Ryan and Graham the grand tour of some of the TARDIS. There was no way she could give them a tour of the whole place, but she had picked a few of her favourite places to show them such as the swimming pool, the library, the kitchen, the games room and of course the cinema. There were so many more rooms inside the magical ship that even Kari had yet to explore, so she just stuck to the few she knew would be useful.
They all sat down in the kitchen having some tea and a little bit of a chat. "Tell us about some of the places you've been." Yaz asked, a sparkle in her eyes. It was easy to see that she was the most excited out of everyone to be there and travelling through time and space.
The Doctor and Kari just looked at each other, neither of them knowing where to start. "Oh, there have been so many." Kari replied, taking a sip of her tea. "There is this space station made of glass. The Doctor has taken me there a few times now. No matter where you look, all you can see is space. Stars and planets in every direction." She said, remembering the times when the Doctor had taken her there. "The food there is amazing. But the view… well…"
"It takes your breath away. And it's always moving, travelling the stars." The Doctor said, knowing that Kari was thinking back on those times. She was happy, happy to see that Kari had enjoyed those times, to know that she still would enjoy those times. "Have you done Picasia yet?" She asked curiously, looking at Kari.
Kari shook her head. "Spoilers!" She sang, with a smile on her face. "Picasia? I have no idea what Picasia is, Doctor."
There was a huge grin on the Doctor's face. "Oh, you are so going to love it. I promise." Both of them were happy, and the trio around them could see it. Unfortunately that was all about to change as Kari's hand started shaking a little, causing her to clasp them together tightly. The Doctor noticed it in a heartbeat. "Kari? What's wrong?" The happy smile she had been wearing was now a face full of worry and concern.
"Apparently, it's time." Kari muttered, clenching her fists, trying to hold it back. "But I don't… I don't want to." It wasn't fair. She hadn't spent very long with the Doctor and already the time vortex was trying to pull her away.
Straight away the Doctor knew exactly what she meant and what was happening. "Kari, you have to." Kari just scrunched her eyes closed and shook her head a little. "Kari, please. This is just going to make it worse. You can't stop it, you know that. I'll see you again soon, yeah?" There was so much worry etched on her face. The Doctor knew how stubborn Kari could be, and trying to stop the time vortex from making her leave was not a good idea at all. "Please, you have to just let it go."
"No… I'm not… I'm not going." There was desperation in Kari's voice as well as pain.
Yaz, Ryan and Graham all looked on, not fully understanding what was happening. "What's wrong? What's going on?" Yaz asked, trying not to sound too panicked.
The Doctor kept her eyes focused on Kari. "It's the time vortex. Kari is linked to it. She doesn't always travel through time and space in the TARDIS. She gets pulled through the whole of my timeline, meeting me at different points. There is no way to control it." She told the trio while staying as focused as she could on Kari. "But Kari is trying to hold it back, to stop it. Not a good idea."
"I'm not leaving." Kari managed to whisper. She didn't want to admit it, but the Doctor was right. The pain was most definitely getting worse and she was starting to feel extremely sick. "Please, I don't…"
Now the Doctor was clasping both of Kari's hands tightly as she spoke to her. "Kari, I know you don't want to go. But this is how we live our lives, isn't it?" She told her, trying her best to get through to her. "I'm out there somewhere, waiting for you. I need you to come and save me, yeah?" There was desperation in her voice and the Doctor knew that she had to get through to her quickly. "You have to go, Kari. You need to give these back." She reached into her pocket and put the pair of glasses that Kari had shown her earlier in her hands. "I need you to give those back to me, yeah?"
Kari lifted her head and slowly opened her eyes. There were not just tears swimming around in her eyes, but also the time vortex as well. It was as if her eyes were filled with liquid gold as it had built up within her. "But Doctor…"
"It will be okay. I promise." The Doctor replied, kissing Kari lightly on the head. "Just let it go. Everything will be fine, I mean it. You'll be okay and I will see you soon." She hated seeing Kari in that state. There had been many times when Kari had not wanted to leave and had made that rather clear, but doing this was something else. "Take a deep breath, and let it out. Okay?"
The pain that was in Kari's head was unbearable now. It wasn't just her head that was hurting her, it was all over. The golden misty glow that came with being pulled had been building for so long now, but she was trying so hard to fight it. Kari knew that she had to let it go, she also knew that it was going to be very painful when she did. "I'm sorry, Doctor." She whispered before taking a deep breath. As she let out the breath, she heard the Doctor ushering everyone away from her, telling them to move back, to get away and give her space. The last thing she heard was the Doctor calling her name before she released everything and let the time vortex take her.
What she experienced was like nothing else that she had ever been through, at least as far as she could remember. Kari's whole body was burning, as if it had been set ablaze. It felt like there were a thousand knives being driven through her head, all at the same time. Of course, she knew that she was going to regret what she did, but Kari knew that at some point she would have to try, to try and stop the time vortex from taking over. Unfortunately it really hadn't gone to plan.
It felt like the pain was lasting for hours and she could barely even hear the person who was speaking to her. She recognised the voice, but it was distorted, as if she were underwater. Nothing they were saying was clear to her. The voice started to sound more panicked and worried, but she still couldn't hear them, in fact she couldn't even open her eyes. In the end, Kari just let the darkness take over her.
The person who had been speaking to her was of course her bowtie wearing Doctor. He had smiled when he saw that golden mist appear in the TARDIS, when he knew that Kari was back with him. However, that smile quickly faded as he saw her drop to the glass floor of their ship. There was concern visible on his face as he called to her, but she didn't respond, Kari didn't even move. "What have you done, Kari?" He asked her in a quiet voice, having no idea what had happened or why she was in such a bad way. The Doctor had also noticed the trail of blood coming from her nose which only made him worry even more.
Instead of wasting time thinking things over, he scooped Kari up in his arms and bound up the steps and through the corridors of the impossible ship. Even the ship knew something wasn't right, as she seemed to be helping him find the room he needed quickly. The door to the room he shared with Kari appeared in front of him and opened on its own. The Doctor put the lifeless body on the bed before whipping out his sonic screwdriver and scanning Kari with it. The end lit up green for a few seconds, making a whirring noise as well. When the Doctor looked at it his face just seemed to fall.
"Oh… Oh Kari, what have you done?" He whispered, looking down at the woman laying on the bed. The results told him that she had done something very silly and very dangerous. As he looked down at her he noticed she was grasping something in her hands. It didn't take him long to recognise what she was holding onto and he gently tugged the glasses out of her hands. The Doctor knew that they were his, he just didn't know when she had taken them from him.
He put the glasses on the table beside the bed and sat on the edge next to her. The Doctor didn't know what to do, he wanted to help her but knew that there was nothing he could do. The pressure from the time vortex building up had taken a massive toll on her, it had pretty much knocked her out. He could only just begin to imagine how much pain she had been in and now all he could do was wait for her to feel better and wake up. The Doctor pulled off his boots and slipped off his jacket, hanging it on the back of the chair. Carefully, he lay down on the bed, pulling Kari close to him and holding her while she slept.
Now it was just a waiting game, waiting for the effects of the time vortex to ease up, waiting for Kari to start to feel better, waiting for her to wake up. There wasn't much else that the Doctor could do. The hours began to slip by and the Doctor was still there with Kari wrapped up tightly in his arms. He was doing his best not to worry, not to panic at the fact that she hadn't woken up. The only comfort that he really had was the fact that he could feel her, he could still sense her in his head. That gave him a little bit of reassurance.
More hours slipped by and nothing seemed to have changed. Now the Doctor was starting to worry. "Oh, why do you do these things, Kari?" He muttered, running his hand through her hair. "Just can't do the sensible thing. Well, you get that from me really don't you?" The Doctor added, letting out a sigh. He was used to her doing some crazy and rather dangerous things, but he couldn't really tell her off for it, he did those kinds of things all the time. "We are having words when you wake up."
The hours continued to pass and the Doctor was getting more and more anxious. He knew that he shouldn't worry, but he couldn't help it. He had just pulled his screwdriver out to do another scan when Kari let out a groan, much to his relief. "Oh… oh my head…" She moaned, keeping her eyes tightly shut.
The Doctor couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "Well, if you insist on playing with the time vortex like that, you're going to end up with a headache." He told her softly, the relief washing over him the moment he heard her voice.
"Not just a headache." Kari groaned, the pain just soaring through her body. It still felt like everything was on fire, only not so much. "Oh, everywhere hurts."
He already knew that she was going to be very much achy and in pain when she woke, the Doctor just didn't yet know why. "What did you do this time?" He asked her, his hand still running through her hair.
Kari relaxed a little more, her brain finally starting to function some more and registering that she was there with the Doctor and that he had his arms around her. "I tried to defy the time vortex." She told him, remembering what had happened before she had woken up. "I didn't want to leave you so I tried to stop it."
The Doctor let out an audible sigh. "That was not a clever thing to do, Kari. You know just how powerful the time vortex is, you can't do things like that." He thought back to all the times that she had used the vortex, when she had been helping or protecting people, it always took it out of her. But this time, what she had done, trying to hold it back, he had no idea what impact that could have on her.
"I had to try." She told him, doing her best to ignore all the pain she was feeling over her body. "It isn't fair, Doctor. Sometimes I only get to spend a few hours with you, other times it's days. It just isn't fair."
He couldn't agree more, it wasn't fair. For as long as he could remember he had just wanted Kari to be by his side at all times. He hated it when she was taken from him, because he never knew how long she would be gone for. "I know, Kari. But the time vortex is dangerous, you have to promise me that you won't do anything like that again."
While Kari wanted to promise him, she knew that there was likely to be something happen in her future which led her to use the vortex again. "Doctor, you know I can't. I know I won't be trying to hold it back like that again, I can promise you that." And Kari ment it. She had tried it once, it hadn't worked, and she most certainly would not be doing it again.
"I can't lose you, Kari. And every time…" There was so much that the Doctor wanted to say to her, he just didn't know how. "When you use the time vortex, no matter what it is for, I am always scared. Each time I worry that you are going to push it just a little too far and I'm going to lose you." That was always his biggest fear, losing Kari.
Kari finally forced her eyes open and looked at the man that was holding her. She could see the pain and worry etched on his face, and it really did hurt her to see that. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I don't… I don't mean to put you through all that, I really don't." She never wanted to hurt him, it was the last thing she ever wanted to do.
The Doctor looked at her, his eyes locking with hers. He could see it in her eyes just how true it was. "I know you don't. Just remember that you are worth more than anything in the whole of time and space, Kari." He told her, the hand that had been running through her hair now resting on her cheek.
"You're everything to me as well you know, Doctor." Kari didn't know why they were both getting a little emotional, but it was nice. It wasn't very often that anyone got to see his vulnerable side, but Kari saw it more than most. This was one of the rare moments when he would put down every single one of his defences and leave himself totally vulnerable. "I'd do anything to protect you, just like I know you would do for me. I'm sorry for the times where I worry and scare you. I don't mean to make you feel like that, I really don't."
"I know, Kari, I know." He assured her, before kissing the top of her head, like he always did. "Now please, get some more rest. I'll be right here the whole time, okay?" The Doctor could see that she was still struggling, that she was still in a lot of agony from what she had done. The only thing that was going to make it better was for her to rest.
Kari closed her eyes and settled back down again, shifting herself closer to the Doctor. "Okay. But when I wake up we are going somewhere amazing." She told him, letting herself relax in his hold. "So you best get thinking, mister." Kari knew that he would think of something amazing, he was the Doctor, it was what he did.
All he could do was chuckle a little as he held Kari tightly. He knew that she was going to be okay, but there was nothing that would ever stop him from worrying about her. All she had to do was sneeze and his heart rate would increase and his mind would race through all the things that could make her sick. Not that he would ever tell Kari any of this, he didn't want her to know just how much he worried about her. Knowing her, she would tell him off.
A few more hours later Kari decided to wake up again. The pain had eased a lot and she felt a bit more herself now. Her head still felt a little scrambled but the pain was much better. She wasn't surprised at all when she found that the Doctor's arms were still wrapped around her and that he had fallen asleep. At least it looked as if he were asleep, his eyes were closed and there was a relaxed look on his face. All she could do was gaze up at him with a smile on her face.
Kari only had a few moments of watching him before his voice filled the room. "How are you feeling now?" The Doctor asked, keeping his eyes closed still. He really had looked like he was asleep, so how did he know that she was awake? Kari just frowned as she tried to work it out. "I can hear your thoughts. That's how I know you're not asleep."
Suddenly Kari realised what she had been thinking and her cheeks turned bright red. "I forget about that sometimes." She muttered, very glad that there was no one else around. Her thoughts just then had been far from anything innocent, but not something that happened very often.
The Doctor let out a chuckle. He knew just how embarrassed Kari was, and it did amuse him sometimes. "Oh, you most certainly forgot. Some of those things would make even your brother blush." He told her, knowing that there wasn't really much that would embarrass Jack or make him blush. He was a 51st century guy after all, he had lived a very wild life before meeting the Doctor and Kari.
"Yeah, okay. Not helping here, Doctor." Kari said, now trying to bury her head into the Doctor's chest. "Have you thought of somewhere we can go?" She added, trying to get the topic of conversation away from her thoughts and onto something else. Anything else.
He had had his fun now, and the Doctor knew it was unfair of him to continue to tease her. "So many places. There are so many places in the universe that I want to show you. It's hard to just pick one." He had been thinking about it, about where he could take her. The only problem was that he just couldn't decide on one place. "Help me narrow it down. Tell me what you want?"
Kari didn't really know. She hated it when the Doctor asked her about where they should go because she just didn't know. "I really don't know. I honestly don't care where we go, as long as I'm with you it just doesn't matter." That was the truth. Kari didn't care where in the whole of time and space they were, as long as she was with the Doctor it just didn't matter at all.
"Maybe we should just stay in bed all day then." The Doctor ended up suggesting, It had been a long time for him since they had just stayed in and done nothing. When he was with Kari they were always dashing about, because he wanted to show her amazing places and because he knew how much she loved those adventures. What he also knew was that sometimes she just liked to stop and look. To take a breath and not do anything.
It was only then that Kari released something. "Is there no one else here then?" She asked, wondering where they were up to. He hadn't spoken about Amy or Rory and there had been no mention of Clara either. She had no idea where she was in his timeline and really needed to work it out.
The Doctor held in a sigh. He didn't want her to know where they were up to, to remember what had happened. "Just us for a change, how about that?" He told her, trying to keep his tone light. The Doctor knew that the Kari who was with him now had not been through what he had. She hadn't been there and suffered all of that pain and loss, he wasn't going to even consider mentioning it to her.
While his comment did make Kari suspicious, she knew not to dwell on it. The Doctor lied, and he lied to her a lot, but the majority of the time it was for a good reason. "Just us sounds nice. How about we let Sexy take us wherever she wants." She said, more than happy to let their magical ship decide where they should go. The TARDIS would always take them somewhere amazing.
Kari couldn't see it, but there was a smile on the Doctor's face at her suggestion. "Let the old girl decide where we should go, brilliant idea." He said, rather impressed with Kari's idea. It saved him from having to think of anywhere to take them, because he knew that Kari wouldn't know where to go.
"Great, now since that has been decided, I need to quickly go and get washed and changed." Kari told him, needing to have a shower and get some clean clothes on. But the Doctor just wrapped his arms around her tighter. "Doctor, that really isn't going to work." She told him, knowing exactly what he was doing.
The Doctor didn't move, he didn't even attempt to let her go. "Oh, I don't know about that. It's working at the moment." He wanted to see what she would do, if she would really force him to let her go so that she could go to her own room to get showered and changed.
Kari wanted to be annoyed at him but she just didn't have it in her. The look on his face said it all, he'd much rather that she just stay there with him for a while longer. "Come on, Doctor. I'm ready for an adventure, aren't you?" The one thing that Kari did know was that he could never turn down an adventure.
It seemed to do the trick, as the Doctor let out a groan. "Right, fine. I suppose you're right." He said, reluctantly loosening his hold on her. "You have 30 minutes." The Doctor told her, before jumping up off the bed and taking her with him. "If you're not at the console in 30 minutes, ready to go, then I'm putting the TARDIS into lockdown and you will not be going anywhere."
There was a hint of surprise on her face as she registered what he had said. "You really think that putting her into lockdown is going to make any difference?" Kari asked, looking up at him. "I mean, is that meant to be a threat or something?"
"Well I… I just…" Now he was getting flustered, he didn't know what to say. Kari had caught him out.
There was a grin stretching across her face now. "I will see you in 29 minutes at the console. You best be ready." Kari told him, reaching up and giving him a quick peck on the lips before dashing out of the room. The Doctor just stood there with a smile on his face as Kari disappeared to her room to get showered and dressed.
To the Doctor's surprise, Kari was in the console room and ready to go before her 30 minutes were up. She was standing there in a pair of black jeans and her favourite mint green blouse with a smile on her face. Kari had needed that shower, and she was ready to go on their next adventure together. "Come on then, where are we off to this time?" She asked, gazing at the Doctor with a sparkle in her eyes.
All he could do was smile back at her. "Anywhere and everywhere." He told her, before pulling down the lever. He hadn't set any coordinates, he had no idea where or when they were going. Like Kari had suggested, he was letting their amazing ship decide for them.
They both held on tightly as the whole ship began to shake, the smiles on their faces just getting bigger. Moments passed and everything went still. They had landed, and neither of them knew where in the universe they were, or even when. The pair of them both rush towards the doors of the TARDIS, ready to see where they were. Neither of them said a word as the Doctor took a hold of Kari's hand as he turned the latch and opened the door.
When the door opened, the Doctor's face fell while Kari's simply lit up. "Why? Why would she bring us here?" The Doctor muttered, pushing Kari back inside and closing the door. He headed over to the console, leaving Kari standing by the door with a confused look on her face.
"Uh, problem?" She asked, wondering why he was starting to worry. Kari watched as the Doctor began fiddling with knobs and switches. The whole way he was acting was worrying her, something wasn't right but she just didn't know what.
He carried on with his fiddling, a slightly worried look on his face which he was trying very hard to mask. "Not a problem exactly. But why would she bring us here?"
Kari really couldn't understand what the big deal was. "Doctor, it's Cardiff. Why do you have such a big problem with her bringing us to Cardiff?" She asked him, finally stepping away from the door and over towards where he was. "You remember Cardiff. Place in Wales, where there is a rift, also where my brother usually is."
Finally, the Doctor stopped and looked at Kari. "This isn't Cardiff." He said, watching as confusion now filled her face. "Looks like Cardiff, but it isn't."
"Okay… so if it looks like Cardiff, but isn't Cardiff, where are we?" Kari asked him, trying to understand what was going on. Her head was still just a little fuzzy from where she had tried not to leave another version of the Doctor. "Please tell me it's not another parallel universe." She ended up groaning.
"Kari, it is not a parallel universe. The walls to those are closed. For good. You know that." The Doctor told her, stepping away from the console and going to stand in front of her. "It's a clone planet. Earth, rebuilt exactly as it was before the sun expanded. Humans finally found a place that was the right size and had a very similar atmosphere. So they terraformed it, rebuilt it."
Kari nodded at him, beginning to understand. Obviously she knew about New Earth, so it made sense that there would be other planets out there that the humans would have tried to make home. "Okay, that explains why it looks like Earth. But you are more worried about why Sexy has brought us here. Care to explain that part?"
The look on his face said that he really didn't want to, but the Doctor knew that Kari wouldn't stop until she had answers. "We've been here before. Well, I've been here with you before, going from the surprise on your face you've still got that to come." He admitted, still not getting to the point of why he was so worried about them being there.
"And I'm guessing that something bad happened the last time that we were here then?" Kari didn't need to know all the details, but she needed something, she needed some kind of explanation as to what had her Doctor so worried.
There was a distant look in the Doctor's eyes now as he replied. "Bad, yes. Very bad…" He trailed off, his mind clearly busy thinking over something.
Now Kari was not just worried, but slightly scared as well. This wasn't normal, the Doctor didn't act like this. Something extremely bad must have happened when he was there with her before. "Doctor, do you think that maybe it would be a good idea if we left? Take the TARDIS somewhere else?" She really didn't know what else to do, this wasn't right, and the way the Doctor was acting, an awful feeling started growing in Kari's stomach.
"Yes, we should. We should go…" The Doctor said, grabbing Kari's hand tightly and pulling her towards him, holding her tightly against him. "We should…" Before he could say anything more there was an awful screeching sound, and everything went dark.
A/N: First of all, I just want to say a big thank you for all of the kind and positive reviews for the last few chapters. Writing the female regeneration of Kari was not an easy task. There were so many variables that needed to be taken into consideration and I am so pleased to hear that so many of you loved it. So thank you.
Thank you to all who have reviewed and favourited/followed. When I started this story I never expected it to have such a huge following and it is just amazing that so many of you are still here, and that new readers are joining too!
I've been working away at the next chapter, but it is going to be a multi chapter story so I may wait until the whole plot is completed before posting it. However, I do have a week out of work coming up so fingers crossed I can take some time out and get back to writing.
Take care and until the next time,
Pippa.