A/N: Hey there...pay no mind to the person who disappears for extended periods of time for no reason. Hey- what's that?
∋(°O°)∈
an emoticon blowfish to distract you from what a terrible and evil updater I've been? That's...that's... I'll tell you what, that's ridicul-*flees*
-1926-
-Eddison Manor-
The hard frame of the steering wheel was digging into Calpyso's palms. If they stopped now, she wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to remove her grip. But the reverend gave no implication that he wanted to stop. He hadn't spoken beyond giving her instructions to drive. Now he gazed out the rain slicked windows. Whether he was surveying the darkened scenery, or lost in his own thoughts, she wasn't sure.
The stone remained in his lap, fluttering with life. He gripped it with a clawed hand, as though afraid to release it.
"It shouldn't have been like this," his voice was quiet but it had still startled Calypso who'd been straining to see the road beyond the dim headlights. He didn't sound angry anymore, just confused. "If I had just been told I could have- If she hadn't abandoned me." The buzzing rose in his throat but it subsided almost immediately. She risked a quick glance toward him. The purple of the stone made his features stark, but they were twisted in pain, not fury.
"What she did was misguided," she tried to choose her words carefully. Her eyes danced between the rear view mirror and the road and her heart fluttered, a pair of headlights followed. They were some distance away, but she knew with an unwavering certainty that it was the Doctor. "But she was afraid. She didn't give you up to hurt you. Your father was dead and she was left alone. She did what she thought was best."
"Best? She should not have colluded with- with a monster in the first place. A creature from another world." He scoffed as he shook his head in disbelief. "How could she have done that to herself? How could she have hoped to ever deal with such an abomination?" The words aimed at himself still stung Calypso. She too had been an abomination, and destruction had followed in her wake.
"She loved him. Your mother was young and she may have made mistakes, but loving your father wasn't one of them."
"How can you know that?"
"You don't regret that. Loving someone. Not just because things didn't turn out as you hoped." Her throat grew tight and she returned her focus to the road.
There was a lapse of silence before he spoke again. The anger and frustration had seeped out of him.
"I always wondered if I'd had a family. I wondered what they might be like, if they missed me." He laughed without humor. "This is not how I'd imagined it."
"It rarely is."
"And I've already lost them," he passed the glowing stone from one hand to another. For a moment it looked like he might throw it from the vehicle, but his whole body sagged, defeated. "I killed people. I murdered her son. My brother." He shook his head. "I have nothing again."
Calypso blinked quickly, overwhelmed by her own memories. "That's not true." She whispered. Her own family was lost, but the reverend might still make amends with his mother, no matter how impossible it seemed. "I think she would be interested in getting to know you better, if you gave her the chance."
He chuckled, "What, just turn myself in? You think she'll sweep this whole little 'mishap' under the rug?" Bitterness twisted his features as he stared out the passenger window once again.
"It won't be easy." Calypso clarified. "But it is not as impossible as you imagine. You were not yourself, that stone fed on the stories your mother read, and they poisoned your mind." She was hard pressed to excuse the man for his murders, but there was a moral gray area in this instance. How could she, or anyone for that matter, understand the changes that had turned him to violence.
"It doesn't matter, I am a criminal. I may not have been of right mind, but I acted with violence. If I had held my temper, maybe none of this would have happened. If I had been stronger-" he shook his head. "They will hang me, and they will be right to do so."
"Do you really believe that? You've dedicated your life to helping others. You were swept up in something you couldn't possibly have controlled."
"I betrayed my faith. I took life. I will regret it till the end of my days, but it's too late. I cannot atone for these sins on regret alone."
"It's not too late. You can still stop this from growing worse by turning yourself in." She no longer believed he intended to hurt her, but she couldn't be entirely certain that suggesting he give himself up wouldn't change his mind.
"What, for a life in prison?"
"For a life where you might know your mother."
He sobered at that and became quiet once more. The flicker of headlights was closer now, but still dim enough not to draw attention.
"I'm sorry, for threatening you." He spoke again. "I didn't know what to do- when she finally found out who I was, what I had done. I didn't- I didn't know what else to do…"
"So you ran away," Calypso offered a reassuring smile. "It's not entirely uncommon for people to try and run away from their problems. Though I can tell you from experience that it rarely works."
"Yes," he said with a sigh. "I have been preaching that same wisdom myself for years. Perhaps it's time I listened to my own sermons." His grip on the stone loosened and she could see the pulsing was less frantic now. "If it would be alright with you Miss Calypso, perhaps you might turn the car around and let us return to the estate."
Calypso let out a relieved sigh and smiled at him. "That is good news. I'm sure your mother is worried-" she spotted a blur of brown from the corner of her eye and returned her attention to the road. There were several deer caught in the headlights, one of them directly in the middle of the road, staring the vehicle down. She slammed on the brakes, but the rain soaked road gave little resistance and she had to yank the wheel sideways to avoid striking the creature.
The vehicle turned, skidding sideways and leaping from the road. The steering column wrenched from her grip as they bounced down an awkward hill, picking up further speed as they sideswiped a tree. Calypso struggled to regain control of the bouncing vehicle again but her foot slipped off the pedal and the headlights illuminated the glittering surface of a lake a moment before they dove into it.
There was a crash and her head struck the steering column; the world turning to a hazy blur. She didn't fully recover until she felt icy water lapping at her chest. She jerked up immediately with a gasp, her head still spinning from the collision. The vehicle bobbed along the surface, drifting from the shore, but it was rapidly filling with water.
"Rev-" she searched for her companion, but saw the passenger glass had shattered when the reverend had been thrown from the vehicle. She spotted him some distance away, the purple stone pulsing in his hand as he splashed in the water. He coughed and sputtered, but seemed otherwise unharmed.
She gathered her wits and pushed against the door, but it didn't budge. The water continued to pour in as she slammed her shoulder against the door again but the pressure from outside was too great. She resolved to crawl through the broken window as the water reached her shoulders, but when she shifted, her foot was stuck fast.
"Oh god," a whimper caught in her throat as she struggled to free herself. Her foot was trapped beneath the brake pedal, pinning her to the vehicle floor. She turned her face upward for a last gasp of air before the there was nothing left to breathe and she began to sink into the lakes murky depths.
Beneath the water it was impossible to see. The headlights still illuminated a short distance forward, but the inside of the cab was black and blurry from the water. She bent down, feeling for her foot. Her movements were frantic as she tugged at both her boot and the pedal itself. Her lungs were already beginning to burn as she worked, but she grew no closer to escape.
She spotted the purple light in the middle of her thrashing, the reverend appeared on the other side of the door, stone still in hand. He pulled the door open and lifted her shoulder in an attempt to clear her from the sinking vehicle. She gestured to her foot as bubbles began to burst from her lips. He swam down further, tugging at her foot until he focused his efforts on her laces. But he was clumsy with one hand, so he set the stone down on the cab floor and worked quickly to release her foot.
The stone rolled out of the vehicle and sank further into the darkness, giving them no light to work with and Calypso began to shake with the effort to keep air in her chest.
She knew immediately when he had finished, because her foot felt loose. He yanked her free from her seat and shoved her toward the surface. She kicked and thrashed her way up, the last of her stale air bursting from her chest a moment before she could reach the surface. She broke free into the frigid night air coughing and choking the water from her lungs.
"Calypso!" She heard splashing to her left and turned to see the Doctor already swimming out toward her. His hair was plastered down over his forehead and he'd lost his suit jacket somewhere along the way. She could only sob in relief as he pulled her to him. "It's alright. I've got you." He whispered, but his tone suggested he spoke more to reassure himself than her.
"The reverend," she finally choked out, her gaze dipping down to the now flickering headlights of the sunken vehicle. "He came back for me. He saved me." She pleaded with the Doctor. Despite the reverends actions, she couldn't leave him to die.
"Right, you alright to swim?" He asked, leading her toward the nearby shore where Donna stood in front of bright headlights. She nodded quickly and he released her with a squeeze. "Off you go then. I'll find him." He promised before taking a breath and diving down to the center of the lake.
Calypso forced her shaky limbs to carry her to Donna, who had waded some distance into the water and helped her to her feet.
"Gave us a fright there," Donna chided as she supported Calypso's slow steps. "What were you thinking? Driving off the road like that."
"Deer." Calypso said through chattering teeth, the evening had been cool, but now soaked to the skin it was downright freezing. "In the middle of the road."
"Bloody scoundrels." Donna glowered. She steadied Calypso against the side of the car and reached into the back seat. "Here," she said as she produced a blanket. "You'll catch your death if we don't get you warmed up. Probably better see if there's something for that crack in your skull too." She disappeared and began to rummage through the trunk.
Calypso felt at the throbbing in her temple and found her hairline sticky with blood.
"Did he do that to you?" Agatha appeared, helping Calypso sit when it became clear that she wasn't quite steady enough on her feet to stand.
"No," Calypso shook her head. "I think I hit my head when we crashed. He didn't want to hurt me. He'd agreed to turn around-" her voice caught as she spotted the Doctor cresting the shore. He dragged a sizable lump behind him, but there was no sign of movement. He fell to his knees and pressed against the reverend's chest rapidly, in between he tried to breathe air into the man's lungs, but the reverend didn't stir.
"How do you kill a wasp?" Agatha's voice was distant as she watch the Doctor labor. "You drown it."
"No," Calypso stood, clutching the vehicle for support. "He came back for me. He can't have drowned."
"Perhaps he hoped to atone for his sins." Agatha put a reassuring had on her shoulder as the Doctor brushed his fingers against the reverends eyelids, shutting them.
"I'm sorry Calypso. What's done is done." Donna said, not entirely unsympathetic. "Now sit down so I can tend to that." She had found some gauze to stop the bleeding.
"Don't bother," the Doctor said as he pushed himself up from the ground. His shirt clung to his ragged frame and he met Calypso's eyes.
"Don't bother?" Donna looked ready to dunk him in the lake again. "I'll bother you space man. She's hurt!"
"I know, but you won't have time, Donna." He said as he crossed to Calypso's side, taking her hand in his own.
"Won't have time? What on earth could you mean by that, Doctor?" Agatha looked between them questioningly.
"Oh," Donna said, realizing it just as Calypso did herself. She had dismissed the tingling as a side effect of her head wound, and the feathering yellow light had been disguised in the warm glow of the headlights.
"It means you're going to need a new assistant." Calypso smiled apologetically at Agatha.
"Never as much time as I'd like," the Doctor brushed her cheek with his thumb. His miserable look was magnified by his current soaked state.
"Nor I," she leaned into his palm, which was warm despite his swim in the lake.
"I'll see you soon. Might even skip the whole disaster bit next time. What do you think? Just you, and me, and something lovely. Maybe a picnic."
"That sounds wonderful," she smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. It reminded her sharply of another green-eyed man who had taken her into the Versailles gardens for a picnic. And the lingering fear that she might never see that man again.
She pulled him close against her to hide her tears, and in a vain attempt to stay just a bit longer. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead.
She looked up at him and leaned forward, hesitant at first but he made no movement to distance himself. She wanted him to tell her he was coming back, she wanted him to tell her she didn't have to go. But she knew he couldn't, so she kissed him instead. His mouth was warm and surprisingly earnest against her own. There was no hesitation in his movements as he tangled his fingers in her wet hair, his lips lingering on hers after they had stopped.
"Don't forget about me," he said with a sly grin and his forehead pressed against her own.
"I couldn't." She whispered.
"So I gather they've known each other for some time?" Agatha's faded voice was somewhere to her left, and Donna just snorted in response. The world faded away and Calypso was lost in the darkness once more.
P.S. I love to hear from you guys. Critiques are TOTALLY UNEQUIVOCALLY accepted!
