Note from Tinker's friend:

Hello. Here is the second chapter for the day. Enjoy.

XxXxXxXx

Chapter 7: The Proposal

Wanda stumbled in the corridor as she arrived inside a wildly rocking TARDIS. Still sniffled and hiccupping from her sobs, she quickly tired wiping away the tears. There was no time to be self-pitying or to act like a crybaby. She needed to remain strong and be there for the Doctor and whatever companion(s) might be with him. Their safety and happiness was always number one in her book. As always, they came first and her last.

"Oh, come on! Just send me back!" she heard Eleven yelling from the control room. She hurriedly walked down the corridor, going into the room to see Eleven, still in his military jacket and wearing the Stetson from being inside the Teselecta.

"I don't care if it crosses my own time stream! Send me back! She needs me!" the Doctor shouted at the time rotor as the TARDIS grinded and refused to go where the Time Lord wanted. He slammed his fists onto the console. "I thought you care about her?! Now, you just want her to die by the lakeside?! You know she can't regenerate without me!"

"Theta?" Wanda called out, gaining his attention. He turned sharply in her direction, looking both shocked and relieved. Wanda could only stare back in confusion as to what he was yelling about and why he was acting in such a way. "What's going on? What are you doing?" The Doctor hurriedly stopped the TARDIS, making it settle into a drift in space. He then rushed over to Wanda, pulling her into a tight hug. She stiffened, not exactly in the mood to be hugged by anyone at the moment. But her body almost immediately leaned into his touch, loving the comfort. This new body of hers sure did love affection. It almost craved it in some ways.

"Did you make it? Were you okay? Am I correct in thinking that was the moment you jumped to regenerate during Christmas at the Tyler's?" he asked rapidly. He pulled away, seeming to check over her to see if she were fine. She blinked, trying to understand why he was acting as if she were about to die right then and there in front of him. Then, it dawned on her what exactly as going on.

"Oh, you mean Lake Silencio? Yeah, I jumped away just fine," she assured him.

He sighed with relief, tugging her back into a warm hug. "Oh, thank goodness. I was so worried. I'll admit, I might have panicked a bit there."

Wanda snorted. "Only a bit?"

"Okay, more than a bit." Moving from the hug, he kept his arms looped around her waist which had her closely pressed against him. He gave her his normal dazzling, boyish grin. The grin to which always made her hearts flutter rapidly with delight. His grin dropped upon see how red and watery her eyes were, as well as the turmoil storming around her emerald irises. "Wanda, is something wrong? You look upset."

"It's nothing. I'm fine." She buried her head into his chest, glad to be back with Eleven. She missed him. No offense to Ten or Nine, but he had been the Doctor she wanted to be with after her regeneration. Not that she did not love the other two incarnations of the Doctor, it was just . . . she wanted Eleven to be the first face this face of hers saw.

"No, you're not fine." He pulled her back, holding her chin gently to make her face him properly. "Tell me, what happened?"

She winced, not wishing to really discuss what happened. For him, it had happened over two hundred years ago. He was far over what had occurred. She did not wish to bring it up and cause him to be upset over something that had transpired so long ago. "There's no need to worry about it, Theta."

He stared sternly at her, determined for an answer. "Tell me."

She sighed, pulling away from him. "I've . . . I've just come from 1869."

He blinked, trying to remember that specific date. It quickly clicked in his mind as he remembered that night. He suddenly looked greatly torn and remorseful. "Oh. Oh, Wanderer, I—."

"It's okay. Really. It's all in the past now."

"For me. But not for you." He cupped her face, gently thumbing her cheek over a few of the light freckles across her face. A feature to her he always found lovely. He blinked when realizing what she was wearing. "Oh, I remember this dress." He smiled, taking in the dazzling sight of her within the outfit. The way it made her appear like a mystical princess, bringing to life all her alluring features. "You're stunning. No, more than that. Absolutely breathtaking."

Wanda giggled, finding it funny how he seemed so excited to see her in the dress. As well as touched on his sincere and heartfelt words. "What happened to 'you look like someone who just climbed out of the Strehoxx swamps'?"

He rubbed his hands together, looking embarrassed. "Ah. Did I really say that? I don't remember saying that. Well, at any rate, you most definitely do not look like someone who crawled out of the Srehoxx swamps."

She laughed softly. "Well, I'm glad you approve this time around." Glancing at the Stetson, she gave a coy smile. Like always, he looked so stunning with that particular hat on. "I like your hat there, Spaceman."

He blinked for a moment, then remembered he was still wearing the Stetson. He returned her smile. "Oh? Do you?" Wrapping an arm around her thin waist, he pulled her up against him. "Do I look like a cowboy? Or . . . wait, would it be more of a cowboy-spaceman for me?" He looked up, pondering this. "Is there such thing as a cowboy-spaceman? I'm sure there might be . . . somewhere. Oh, if there is I'd love to meet him. Or her. Might be a her. Could always be—."

Wanda rolled her eyes as he began to ramble. "Oh, just shut up and kiss me." She pulled on his bow tie, bringing his head back down to capture his lips.

Their mouths melded together almost instantly in a passionate embrace. Wanda moaned lightly, wrapping her arms around his neck as she felt the spark ignite within her. The Doctor pulled her flush up against him as he held her by her hips. The Time Lord bond between them flared up greatly, making them both feel as though they were dancing in the stars. It was them and them alone in the whole universe. A whole life, waiting for them to share together. Wanda pulled away, panting slightly from the breathless feeling she received from the kiss. She moved her lips over to his cheek, the same one she had punched so greatly in the past.

"Sorry about me punching you," she whispered as she kissed down to his neck. She had never felt so . . . zealous before. Never even been brave enough to do more than give into simple kisses with the Doctor. Now, however, she felt ready for so much more.

"Oh, that's all right. I deserved it, anyway," he sighed, loving the light kisses she was giving his neck. His hands felt itching to reach around her further, but . . . "Wanda, have we been swimming yet?"

"Swimming?" she asked, reaching up a hand to start undoing his bow tie. His own hand caught hers suddenly, moving it away. She blinked, feeling confused. Then, blushed suddenly when she realized what she had been doing. She felt as though she sort of lost her head for a moment there. "Sorry . . . I . . . don't know what came over me." She chuckled, moving away from him, noticing how he seemed to pout greatly and looking almost disappointed by something.

"I think, as your Second self said once, it was merely a 'hormonal imbalance,'" he chuckled, pulling up her hand to give it a gentle kiss. "That, and Third you tends to be rather . . . enthusiastic." She rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue in response. Suddenly, her stomach gave a rather loud rumble of complaint.

"Oh, that's right. I haven't had much to eat yet since regenerating," Wanda remarked, pouting at her belly. "All I had was Jackie's Christmas leftovers, which really tasted horrid. And all because of this stupid tongue." She pulled on the said appendage, glaring at its pink surface.

The Doctor laughed. "Well, let's get you something proper to eat." He kept a hold of her hand as they strolled together through the corridors to the main kitchen. Their fingers entwined together in a joyful embrace.

"So, we have a lot to discuss now," Wanda commented.

"Do we?" the Doctor questioned.

"Yes. There's the Time Vortex, for starters. And the increasingly bothersome 'mysteries' behind me that I know must be grating for you and others by now. But, of course, this you already knows all the solutions to these mysteries. So, really, it's more grating to your past selves. Then there's . . . the sudden and abrupt marriage." She blushed to this last statement, feeling the flutter of excitement and nervousness pass through her again.

The Doctor smiled, somewhat happy and sad at the same time. "That's quite a list to discuss." They strolled into the large and bright kitchen. Wanda hopped onto one of the stools by the counter while the Doctor searched through the area for something to cook. "How about an omelet?"

"Sounds good to me," Wanda giggled merrily, swinging her legs on the stool as she watched him gathering up supplies for her meal. "So, firstly: Time Vortex. Care to explain that?"

"Ah . . .," the Doctor paused in the middle of cracking an egg into a mixing bowl.

Wanda leaned on the counter with her chin resting in her hand, watching how he tensed immensely. "I'm guessing spoilers?"

"You could say that," the Doctor mumbled quietly. He hurriedly started to prepare the meal, not looking back at her. His shoulders tense and he stood rigidly by the stove.

"I have some theories, actually." Wanda watched him pull some extra ingredients from the cabinets for the eggs and placing a pan on the stove. "Some things I've jotted down over time. Questions that sometimes pop up, because, really, if I don't write them down, I tend to forget. Which is strange, because I don't forget things that easily. Well, okay, I do forget some things from time to time, but it's mostly only when my timeline crosses another and such." She paused, observing how his shoulders remained tense while he began cooking the dish.

"It's almost as if something keeps making me stray away from thinking too greatly upon the mysteries," Wanda continued on. "Every time I start trying to think on the subject, or remembering things from my old world, my mind slips away from these thoughts. Almost as if my mind forces itself to forget it was even thinking on the matter. Which could explain why I forget some details of our adventures sometimes. Because most likely whatever is suppressing my memories could also be blocking important information. It's all very vexing. Making me wonder if this has something to do with the infamous barriers and headaches. Or, possibly, even the Time Vortex living inside causing some sort of damage to my mind. I know it already causes damage to my body whenever I dwell too much and too long on the possibilities. That's very evident. But what other kind of damage is it doing? Is that why I get horrible headaches when I try to remember things that I should know?"

The Doctor sat down her omelet in front of her, gazing at her with worried eyes as she continued to ramble on curiously. He always knew how clever she was. Just . . . never realized how insightful as well. She was growing closer to the truth all on her own. Even more so then she even realized. This had to stop. Hurriedly, he reached forward and gave her a passionate kiss. Wanda squeaked in surprise, but leaned into the kiss all the same. Mmm, lips She liked lips. Her Theta's lips were the best. And—no wait, he was trying to distract her.

"Stop it," she scolded, pulling back from the kiss. "We're discussing this whether you like it or not." The Doctor winced somewhat.

"You aren't supposed to remember yet. It's still too soon," he said.

"How long, though? How much longer do I have until I remember?" she questioned. He pulled out his sonic, doing a quick scan of her. He flicked it open, checking the readings. He closed the sonic back up, sighing heavily.

"Not long," he replied. He walked around the counter, sitting on a stool next to her.

Wanda frowned, staring at the green-tipped sonic screwdriver. "You always do that, scanning me. What exactly are you scanning for?"

"Your age."

"Ah." She started on her meal, smiling with delight on finding that at least her taste buds still enjoyed Eleven's famous omelet. "Well, as I was saying. The Time Vortex." She paused in taking a bit of egg. Slowly, she lowered her fork back to the plate, staring blankly at the dish. "Theta, I'm not going to lie. Knowing that the Time Vortex energy is living inside me . . . it scares me. I'm terrified of that kind of power." She looked at him, seeing how he gazed sadly in return. "And everyone was calling me the Universe's Weapon . . . am I dangerous? I mean, of course I am, but . . . does this mean that I—."

"No, you're not dangerous," the Doctor said firmly, gripping her hand in a reassuring manner.

"Sweetie, you may hold high hopes for me, but I know better," Wanda replied, giving his hand a squeeze. "I know what this kind of energy can do. What kind of power it holds. I've seen it first hand with Bad Wolf." She paused, thinking over the certain entity. Explained so much now, what Bad Wolf had meant when saying Wanda was not allowed to take Rose's place. She already had the energy living inside of her. It would not have worked at all, or even would have created her into something even worse with a double dose of Time Vortex. "And I also remember very clearly once you telling Jack how this kind of energy can turn a person . . . into a vengeful god. Especially a Time Lord."

"Is that what I am now? A vengeful god? Is that why others consider me the Universe's Weapon?" she asked him.

"No, it's . . . not that necessarily," the Doctor mumbled, shifting uncomfortably on the spot.

"And there's something else, as well. Something else lives inside me that makes you terrified of me to no end."

The Doctor's eyes hardened. "No. Nothing about you terrifies me. You are no monster, no weapon, and no vengeful god."

"Then, what else is there inside of me that is even worse than the Time Vortex?"

The Doctor sighed heavily, gloomily gazing down at their entwined hands. "Spoilers."

Wanda sighed as well, finding this dragging mystery to her to be so troublesome. "Can you . . . can you somehow remove the Time Vortex from me?" She stared at him with hopeful eyes, wishing to have these terrifying powers taken from her.

The Doctor stared solemnly back. "I'm sorry. It's embedded within you too greatly. It can never be removed."

Wanda sighed once more, taking a few bites from her omelet. "And all this talk of . . . remembering. You always say that. How I'm not supposed to remember. Remember what exactly? Is it how I became like this? The Time Vortex? Becoming a Time Lord? Are they interconnected?" She looked to him, seeing how he seemed to grow more and more uncomfortable with her questioning. "I have a theory on that, actually. I'm thinking something must have happened on my way of coming from my old universe to this one. Something which gave me these powers and turned me into a Time Lord. It must have been so . . . horrific that when I finally found my way to you, it had been blocked off by the barriers in my mind. Am I correct?"

The Doctor stood up suddenly, shaking his head and waving his hands. "Enough. Let's not talk about this." He grabbed her empty plate, placing it in the sink. Turning back around to face her, he clapped his hands together merrily and gave a brilliant and eager smile. "Time to get married!"

Wanda stiffened, feeling a jittery sensation spark up within her. "What? Now? As in, right now?"

"Oh, now, don't get cold feet on me. I promised to marry you properly once we met up again, and I plan on keeping it." He grabbed her hand, and, like an excited child, dragged her out of the kitchen.

"Wait, wait. Hold on. I still want to discuss this with you." Wanda pulled back on her hand, stopping him short in the corridor. "The fact is, for seventy-two years that we've been together as a 'couple' you've had me convinced you were planning on marrying another woman. How can you expect me to just get over that so suddenly?"

The Doctor opened his mouth, looking ready to disagree. But then closed it suddenly as he appeared rather embarrassed. "Yes, well, about that . . . I mean, I didn't necessarily mean that . . . all those things I've said . . ." He pouted, giving her his puppy eyes. "Can't we just get married and forget about it?"

Wanda huffed, pulling her hand from his grasp, she crossed her arms. "Theta, you kept telling me for years how you couldn't wait to marry her."

The Doctor nervously rubbed his hands together. "Well, that part was true. I really couldn't wait to marry you."

"And that you were excited to start a family with her."

"Also true."

"That you knew the love between us was simple and you knew how it wouldn't last."

"You know, now that you mention that . . ."

"How you just knew that you would love your wife even more so than anything. That our love was nothing in comparison. That you would love your future wife to no end and far beyond. You would be willing to let me go once you married your wife. And, don't forget, how you kept telling me how you just knew that your wife was stunning beyond belief."

"B-but I meant you!" The Doctor hurriedly grabbed onto her hands, holding them while staring pleadingly into her eyes. "I really, truly, thought you knew that we were going to get married. I never even considered that you thought it was River. I knew how you said 'another woman' and all that. But I merely thought Second you separated herself from her Third incarnation, which is you."

Wanda raised a brow at him. "Did you have any proof that I knew it was me? Or did you merely assume on the spot?"

The Doctor looked embarrassed then, giving a nervous smile. "I . . . mostly . . . assumed."

Wanda felt her eye twitch. "So, you're telling me, for seventy-two years, you just assumed that and you kept telling me all those things. Did you ever realize how much those words hurt me?"

Shoulders slumping some, the Doctor stared on rather sadly and looked greatly regretful. "I'm sorry. I never realized. If I knew, I would have never said anything like that. In fact, now that I think about it, much of that should have been reworded. I was very callous to say most of that."

Wanda patted his hands, feeling regretful herself. "And I shouldn't have been so delusional to my feelings for you. As well as I should have realized the possibility I kept seeing of you and River marrying was nothing more than my own mind making up a falsity of my uncertainty of our love. I'm not saying you're all to blame, Theta. So please don't be so harsh on yourself. If anything, it was my own stupid part that kept us apart."

The Doctor shook his head lightly. "Now, don't say that. Yes, you may have been naïve. But I think only confirming your expectations of me marrying another is what really kept you from excepting our relationship fully."

"Maybe. Though I think my constant uncertainty of us might have made you come up with assumptions to my behaviour of our relationship."

"Are you . . . still uncertain now?"

She smiled warmly at him. "No. Not anymore."

The Doctor stared at her with his puppy eyes. "You aren't mad at me, are you? Not only with the horrible misunderstanding, but, also, the way I treated as my Ninth self?"

"Sweetie, I never hold that against you. I know how you were back then. I'm very understanding when it comes to that. And as I said, it's all in the past now." Wanda lifted up one of his hands, giving his wrist a kiss. "As for the misunderstanding, I think we can both agree that we were idiots."

The Doctor chuckled. "Yes, but I believe I'm the bigger idiot." Pausing for a moment, he gazed thoughtfully at her. "I could change it though, our misunderstanding. If I run into Second you in the future, I could tell her and make it so we could be together sooner."

"You know you're not supposed to change time like that."

"But I would if you wanted me to."

Wanda shook her head, giving him a small smile. "No. Let time be as it is. Besides, maybe it was really meant to be Third me that married you."

He beamed in response. "Maybe. And, like you said, it's all in the past now." He gazed around the corridor with a thoughtful expression. "Come on. I want to show you something before anything else." Threading their fingers together, he steered Wanda down the corridor some ways before coming up to a large, gray, metal door. He hurriedly opened the door, then came up around Wanda, holding his hands over her eyes. "This is something I've been making for you since knowing that we were getting married."

Wanda felt giddy with excitement, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. "Oh? What is it?" She tried looking around his hands into the dark room, impatient on waiting to see the surprise.

"Now, no peeking." He pressed his hands more into her eyes, making sure she did not see anything. He guided her inside, making sure she was directly in the centre of the dark room. The door behind them closed, making everything go pitch black. Now, both Time Lords were blind in the room. But, ever so slowly, lights began to appear. The Doctor smiled up to the ceiling, glad that it was working. He leaned close to Wanda's ear to whisper. "All right. You can look now."

Removing his hands from her eyes, Wanda gasped upon seeing the sight around them. Stars. Hundreds of floating stars all twinkling around them. Different arrangement of stars within their own little galaxies, with comets, asteroids, planets, and all other assortments of what would be in space. From where she stood, it almost felt as though she were floating within space while gazing at these stars. There were even more sparkling beneath her feet, looking to be far below her. A star glittered close by to her. She reached out attentively, letting her fingers pass right through the star. It was holographic room of space. With all the stars she could ever look at.

"Oh, Theta, it's beautiful," Wanda breathed out in awe at the sight. She turned around to face him with a brilliant and elated smile when she stopped short upon seeing where he was. He had dropped down on one knee, staring at her with bright and hopeful eyes.

"Wanderer," he spoke gently while taking her hand into his, "I know we've had our troubling times. But through all of that, I want you to know I've always loved you. Maybe not in the beginning of meeting you. I actually think I fell in love with you the moment you punched me." He chuckled while Wanda snorted.

"Punching you made you love me?" she asked, baffled by this.

"Maybe not 'love' exactly. But it did start a spark of something," he replied with a chuckle. He smiled tenderly. "You know what my first thought was right after you hit me? 'What a woman.'" Wanda laughed along with him. He cupped her hand tenderly with both of his as he gazed into her eyes lovingly. "Wanda, to me, you are my everything. No, wait, that's cliché, um . . . I mean, it's true, but I'm trying to think of something unique. Uh . . . oh! You are my shining star lighting up my dark path. No, wait, is that cliché as well?"

Wanda could not stop giggling. Eleven was so adorable when he rambled on like this. The Doctor shook his head quickly, knowing he was messing up their moment. He did have a speech all planned out for this. But it seemed his mind was not working properly to get his meaning out quite right.

"Well, what I'm trying to get at is . . .," he started to fumble within his jacket, searching through the dimension pockets for a certain small object. "Wanderer, would you . . . would you . . . oh, where is it?" He gave a grumble as he dug through the pocket all the way up to his armpit. Unable to find the object he was looking for. All the while, Wanda was in a fit of giggles. "Ha! Found it!" He pulled out a small, velvet box. "Now, without further delay. Wanderer, would you do me the most glorious honour of becoming my wife?" He opened the box, revealing a silver ring. The very same ring that he had once placed on a cake for her.

Now that she actually had a chance to look at the ring closely, she saw beautiful engravings on the silver metal. All Gallifreyan engraved designs from what she could tell. Much like the children's book she had once bought the Doctor. She smiled warmly at him, touched that he would give her such a lovely ring.

"I would most certainly be honoured," she replied. The Doctor beamed away as he pulled out the ring and placed it on her hand. It fit a little loosely. He must have picked it out mostly for her Second self, for her fingers now were much too thin for the ring. Even thinner than her First self's fingers. She gazed at him as he stood back up in front of her. "Oh, but I don't have a ring for you."

Smiling warmly, he reached down the front of his shirt and pulled out a silver chain with a golden ring attached to it. It held similar engravings to her own. "Don't worry. You'll give me my ring sometime in the past. I didn't want to lose it, so I wear it like this. It's a way to keep our love close to my hearts. That, and I couldn't have any of your past selves see it."

Wanda smiled as she felt love and warmth spread through her to his words, his loving smile, and everything else about him. She just . . . loved him so much. Even more than she had ever realized before.

"Sorry about the bad proposal," he said, gazing down at the finger on her finger in embarrassment. "Not my most glorious moment there."

"No, it was perfect," she whispered, glad to have such a wonderful and heartfelt moment between them. She would not want him to have done it any other way. Leaning forward, she gave him a loving and tender kiss. They held each other like that for a moment. She threaded her fingers gently through his soft hair. He held a hand lightly behind her head and wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her so close to him. They pulled away, both breathing out in a huff from the overwhelming sensation of their shared embrace.

"So, what do you say? Wanna get married now?" he asked with a grin.

"What about Amy, Rory, and River? I pretty sure they would want to be there for our wedding," Wanda replied. "And I'm sure there are a few others who would want to be there as well. I mean, I want them there, too. Don't you?"

"Well, of course," he agreed, nodding his head. "But we can't go get any of them at the current moment. I'm dead, remember?"

"Right," she sighed, leaning her head against him, right under his chin. "I'll guess we'll have to wait, then."

"Right." The Doctor pouted, feeling greatly disappointed. But he knew Wanda had a point. They had to have their family there with them for the ceremony. There was a moment of silence as they stood there within the star filled room, holding each other close.

"Or . . . we could always renew our vows in a separate wedding for them," Wanda suggested, giving him a coy smile. The Doctor's face lit up with the most brilliant smile.

"Oh, yes. We could," he agreed. He grabbed her hand and excitedly led her out of the room. She giggled all the way to the control room, and the Doctor sent them off to the nearest chapel for a wedding.

XxXxXxXx

Note from Tinker's friend:

This will be the last update for the day. Tinker as always hopes that all of those who read will enjoy. Again if you all can leave her a review. I would really appreciate it in seeing her happy from comments on the story. Thanks. Goodbye for now.