"You're silly," Mom laughed from the front seat and made eye contact with me in the rear-view mirror so that she could wink at me. I grinned back, because it was a huge victory to get Mom to laugh so soon after she and Dad had an argument.
"Being silly is my best quality," I said brightly as I reached down to adjust the seatbelt that was pressing on my left wrist. Mom's laughter grew and I giggled.
Then a loud air horn and squealing brakes sounded through the air and the world slowed as I watched Mom's eyes widen in horror at the same moment as the crunch of metal on metal.
"Mom!" I watched as Mom's chestnut curls billowed out and her head began snapping back and forth with the movement of the car.
"MOM!" I screamed again as her head jerked at an unnatural angle and slumped forward lifelessly as the car stopped rolling.
I jolted from sleep into a sitting position in an instant, coughing because I had managed to choke on my spit in the process and sobbing because I had just watched my mother die.
"Emma!" The Doctor's hands fluttered around my shoulders, trying to turn me around to face him and comfort me all at the same time. I wiped uselessly at my cheeks before turning so I could cry into his shoulder.
"Breathe Emma. Breathe," he reminded me gently as we wrapped our arms around each other, and he smoothed my hair. I gulped in a shaky mouthful of air at his prompting and used my arms around his neck to pull myself fully into his lap. A few moments later the Doctor flinched and cursed lightly in Gallifreyan. I moved my arms and shifted backwards.
"It's not you. I saw," he explained. I winced because I knew that he meant that he had seen the dream. Since I had no reservations about letting the Doctor inside my mind and he did it on such a frequent basis it took only the basic amount of physical contact and spiked emotions to open the link between us.
"That was-. I thought-." I gave a very weak smile at the fact that I was probably one of the few people who had ever gotten to see the Doctor at a complete loss for words.
"Go ahead," I whispered weakly through my hiccups and rested my forehead on his. A steady feeling swept over my mind as he reached up and thumbed away the tear tracks.
"That was vivid," he stated. I nodded because I didn't have words or the ability to make them work. He took a deep breath and pushed it out roughly.
"I thought you weren't in the car." The emotion in his eyes made it clear that I couldn't just give him a head shake for an answer.
"I wasn't. I was supposed to be, but I wasn't," I said roughly. I slid my eyes shut against the sadness that slammed into me and when I opened them the Doctor was looking at me like he was trying to figure something out.
"It's probably the-"
"It's not," he stated before I could finish my thought about the anniversary of the crash. Silence fell between us until I broke it by yawning abruptly. The Doctor's face softened immediately and he rocked me in his arms slightly.
"Go back to sleep Emma. That was a pretty rude awakening," he soothed. I shook my head against his chest.
"I'll just dream it again," I protested gently. The Doctor chuckled, cupped my face in his hands and kissed me softly.
"No, you won't. Time Lord with telepathic powers remember?" he teased and swept his fingers over my temples gently. I smiled and snuggled into him.
"You'll stay, right?" I asked even though I knew how cliché it was.
"The whole of the Dalek fleet couldn't move me from this spot," he promised.
XXXXX
I am not a Dalek, I AM HUMAN! I am not a Dalek, I AM HUMAN! I AM NOT A DALEK, I AM HUMAN!
I woke up crying to the Doctor leaning over me with his hands pressing my shoulders into the bed with fear on his face. He pulled me upright so I could catch my breath while never taking his eyes or hands off me.
"It was a girl and she had the same face as Clara. She crashed on this planet full of Daleks and they turned her into a Dalek. I didn't know that the Daleks even converted people. And she just kept screaming over and over that she was human," I babbled desperately while pressing my palms into my eyes to stop the tears before they could start again.
"Emma-" The Doctor said. I couldn't place all the emotions in his voice so clearly, I must have really worried him.
"It's just because of the Daleks. I always have nightmares after we bump into them." I moved my palms away from my eyes to look up at him. He was giving me a skeptic look and shook his head slightly.
"You've been having nightmares like this for five days." He removed his hands from my shoulders and fisted them in his lap.
"We only just got away from the Daleks five days ago," I answered roughly. My throat felt scratchy. The Doctor frowned harshly down at his hands.
"It's not the Daleks," he said decisively.
"It's the Daleks," I insisted stubbornly because I couldn't think of another reason to explain the nightmares. He looked up at me for the first time since he had stopped touching me and his gaze was so full of pain and anger and misunderstanding that it made my heart lurch.
"You were crying, Emma. And I couldn't get you to wake up and I couldn't get in your head to make it stop. It's never been like that before. It's not the Daleks."
"It has to be the Daleks. Because if it's not them then I don't know what it is and I don't want to be crazy again," I snapped as the tears started rolling down my cheeks.
"You are not, nor have you ever been crazy, Emma." The Doctor wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and dragged me against him. "I won't let you call yourself that. You are not crazy." I closed my eyes and sighed before trying to wiggle out of his arms.
"I'm going to climb in the tub and call Lillian," I explained when he tightened his arms around me and made a noise of protest. He opened his mouth.
"I am not going back to sleep," I said before he could suggest that I try while climbing off the bed and picking up things that I would need. His eyes followed me around the room.
"I'd feel better if you tried," he argued softly. I shook my head.
"I can never fall back asleep after a nightmare unless I have your special Time Lord psychic powers to help me along. And you already said that you couldn't get into my head," I added and watched the Doctor slouch slightly. I piled my collection of stuff on the bed and to make sure I had everything before I headed to the bathroom.
"I love you," he announced suddenly, and I looked up at him. "That's why I'm pushing this. You know that, right?" I smiled, nodded, and leaned over to kiss him softly.
"I know and I love you too. You know that I'm not using the bath to run away from this conversation, right?" I asked and waited until he nodded before kissing him again and leaving.
The bath was already full and at the perfect temperature when I walked into the bathroom. I pressed my hand against the wall as I set my stuff down on the bench.
"Thanks," I said to the TARDIS before sliding in and dialing Lillian's number.
"What's up?" She asked immediately, but her voice was bright so I guessed it wasn't too early or late on Earth.
"Nightmares. And before you ask, worse than when I was thirteen," I answered bluntly.
"Oh Emma," She breathed. "Why?" I tipped my head back and stared at the ceiling.
"I have no idea," I admitted. I heard her flipping papers quickly.
"It's not the anniversary of anything," she stated so I guessed she must have been looking at the calendar.
"It's not even close to the anniversary of anything."
"After effect of an alien encounter?" She suggested and I shook my head even though I knew she couldn't see it.
"Not nightmares like this. They've been going for a while," I admitted. Silence fell and I could tell Lillian was frowning.
"Emma, you know what Dad said," she said disapprovingly. She was referring to the pact that Dad and I had made when I was eighteen, that I wouldn't have to go to therapy anymore if I didn't have any unusual nightmares.
"I know Lillian, but seeking therapy isn't exactly easy on the TARDIS," I paused.
"Besides what would I tell them? Yeah there have been a few traumatic events in my life recently. 'Like what?' Oh, you know, one of my best friends was murdered by a bunch of aliens who wanted to kidnap a bunch of kids from Earth," I continued.
"And I've been traveling around time and space in this police box with this alien I fell in love with along the way," Lillian added.
"Oh by the way I first met this alien when I was six years old, but he didn't meet me until I was twenty-six because of time travel."
"I had my biological clock frozen by a flower after I nearly died stopping a revolution on an alien planet."
"I briefly visited another universe where I had died while traveling with said alien and discovered that this is the only universe where I am actually still alive," I finished while laughing and Lillian laughed along with me.
"Okay I see your point," She replied after we had gotten ourselves under control. "You know you can come home any time if you think it's because you're not settled."
"Thanks for the offer, but something tells me that wouldn't fix it," I stated and swished my legs around in the water.
"Phone me if it gets better or worse okay?" I smiled.
"Yeah I will. I promise." I shifted around slightly. "So, tell me how are things going with Dru?" Lillian spluttered.
"What makes you things are going with Dru?" She asked. I grinned brightly.
"You spluttered," I pointed out gleefully. She gave a long, drawn out groan in response.
"Fine. We can talk about Dru." I gasped in mock hurt.
"You mean you don't want to have girl talk with me? Have I been replaced as your best friend?" I pressed my hand to my heart dramatically.
"Of course, you haven't been replaced, you silly goose. It's just weird having girl talk over the phone." I laughed.
"The Doctor could probably get me there in like two seconds your time," I offered.
"We wouldn't have enough time. Dru's going to be here in like twenty minutes," she said offhandedly like she hadn't really meant to. I grinned widely as I listened to her scramble to try and recover from her slip.
"Don't you dare tell Mom and Dad," Lillian threatened after I had stopped laughing.
"I would never," I promised before sighing. "I should probably let you go so that you have lots of time to mentally prepare for Dru."
"You're hilarious," Lillian deadpanned. "I'll phone you after. Maybe you could swing by and we can do proper girl talk."
"I'll tell the Doctor to book it in. Love you," I said.
"Love you too," Lillian replied and hung up. I lingered in the tub for a minute before climbing out and putting on fresh pajamas before heading to the console room. I knew that the Doctor was going to be way too concerned to stay still so he was probably tinkering on something.
"Do you feel better?" He asked instantly and set down the thing he was messing with to reach for me. I nodded and took his hand.
"Lillian and I are having proper girl talk soon so we'll have to head to Earth," I said.
"Okay," he said softly. Silence fell between us and I knew we had both just agreed without words that we were going to try and take it easy.
XXXXX
I really hope that this is going okay. This adventure is one of the first one that I came up with when I started this series and I've been super excited about it.
Thanks for all the reads/reviews/favourites/follows/likes/reblogs! I really do appreciate it!