The doctor's moon

Chapter 13

The TARDIS was gliding down the vortex while its owner was monitoring its progress while reading one of Luna' books. Luna, herself, was enjoying a well deserved sleep in her warm and cosy bed. But her dreams were just about to take a sinister move. She dreamt she was back on Earth hanging out with Alice and Tom. They were strolling and laughing until they heard a large explosion. They looked behind and saw a cloud of smoke rising in to the sky from where Luna's house was. Panicked, the brunette ran as fast as she could home with her best friends behind her. At the site, Luna was devastated to find that her house was destroyed. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stared at the wreckage. But before she could start looking for her mother, her mobile phone rang. It was her mother telling her that she was safe in the TARDIS with the Doctor. But suddenly, there was a loud boom down the phone followed by the disconnected tone. The three friends ran to where the blue box had been standing to find it in pieces and the bodies of the Doctor and Luna's mother amongst the rubble.

Luna woke up with a start and to the feel of someone holding her. She was relieved when she saw the Doctor looking in her face with concern in his brown eyes.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, it was just a nightmare." She replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm getting up now anyway."

Although not completely convinced, the Doctor got up and returned to the control room. Luna slowly got up and got ready. She entered the control room to hear the Doctor cursing loudly.

"Bloody thing!"

"Doctor?"

"The TARDIS's controls are malfunctioning. We need to land so I can repair it. Luckily we are close enough to land on Earth so we'll go there."

Luna set to work on the controls and helped the Doctor land the blue police box. It was a rough ride with the two passengers hanging on as tight as they could. The TARDIS landed with a large bump chucking the Doctor and Luna to the floor. The brunette human got up and went to see where they had landed. It was England for sure but they weren't near Luna's home. They were in Oxford close to the high street.

The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and a head torch. He put the torch on his head then positioned himself under the consoles and started working.

"How long will it take for you to repair the TARDIS?" Luna asked.

"Oh, about a day" He replied.

"What! Right then, I'm going shopping for us."

"Ok, see you later."

Luna grabbed her card and phone and placed them in her pocket then headed out for food. She casually strolled through the streets until she got to a Tesco. She gratefully walked in and started getting the TARDIS shop of bread, milk, fruit and vegetables, fish and other basics. She even decided to treat herself and the Doctor to a doughnut each. She latched on to the queue through the till and was joined by a middle aged woman. Luna smiled politely but the woman's face was slightly familiar. She was a brunette, had grey blue eyes and looked very respectful. Ignoring it, Luna paid for her shopping and headed to a café for a rest.

The girl bought herself a hot chocolate, sat at the window and pulled out a book as usual. As she read, the door opened and she looked up to see the woman again. She watched her go to the counter then returned to her book. Why was that woman familiar? Luna continued to read but was soon disturbed by the woman coming over.

"Hello again" She greeted politely a slight posh tone in her voice.

"Yeah, Hi. Would you like a seat?" Luna replied smiling.

"Oh, not if I'm bothering you…"

"No, it's nice to have female company."

The two differently aged women sat peacefully drinking from their mugs and Luna read, occasionally looking at her companion. Suddenly it hit her.

"Sarah Jane Smith." She blurted out.

"Yes?" The older woman turned to Luna.

Luna's blue eyes widened as she stared at her predecessor as the Doctor's assistant.

"You used to travel with the Doctor in the TARDIS."

Sarah Jane was amazed to meet someone else who knew the Doctor. But where was Rose?

Luna explained to Sarah Jane how she came to be travelling with the Doctor and she listened to the adventures that Sarah Jane had with the time lord. Luna had heard about the Doctor being able to regenerate but was amazed to hear how different he could be. She was hoping that the Doctor she knew now wasn't going to change soon. She was too used to seeing him the way he was. But there was something bothering her.

"Sarah Jane, why did you leave the Doctor?" She asked.

"You don't know?" Sarah asked.

"No."

"Well I didn't leave by choice, he left me on Earth."

Luna was surprised to hear that. But Sarah explained what happened. He had gone off to fight in the Time war against the Daleks and had left Sarah Jane on Earth for safety. However he didn't go back for her and moved on. Luna was starting to image what how she would feel if she had been in Sarah Jane's shoes. Sarah saw the sorrow on Luna's face and took hold of both her hands.

"Luna, I know that you are feeling things for the Doctor but you need to be prepared because one day you'll find yourself without him."

Sarah Jane got her stuff and started to leave.

"Come and find me when that time comes or if you need to talk."

Luna watched as her new friend walked out leaving her to think.

An hour later, Luna was slowly walking back to the TARDIS with the shopping. Once at the doors of the blue box, she put two bags down to touch the ship. It was a sweet but sombre touch. Luna picked up the bags again, took a deep breath then stepped in to the TARDIS. She saw the Doctor's plimsolls poking out from under the controls and smiled a tiny smile at them. She quietly took the shopping to the kitchen and put everything away. She returned to the controls and stood by the Doctor but where he wouldn't notice her. As she watched, his hand reached out and started looking for something. There was nothing on the floor until Luna spotted the sonic screwdriver by her feet. She picked it up and handed it to the Doctor. He thanked her but then slid out.

"I wasn't expecting you back yet."

He looked like a little boy. The head torch was still on his head, his suit jacket was on the floor and there was muck on his face, in his hair and on his hands. He noticed the sorrow in her face.

"Are you ok?"

"I met Sarah Jane Smith today." Luna told him.

"Fantastic."

"And she told me how you two went your separate ways. I knew that you'd have say goodbye because you're virtually immortal but are you going to do it the way you did to Sarah?"

This was quite unexpected. The Doctor could see a strange emotion in Luna's blue eyes that he'd never seen before. There was a sense of loneliness in her face.

The Doctor pulled out of tissue and cleaned his face and hands. He then took Luna's hand and led to sit down with him. She wouldn't look at his face. She was sure that now was the time. Neither of them spoke until:

"Just tell me that when we go our separate ways that you won't just drop me like with Sarah Jane. After travelling with you for this long, I deserve at least that. Otherwise I may as well go now to save any pain it'll cause."

"I won't. I couldn't, just don't leave yet. I love you travelling with me."

Suddenly Luna's usual bright smile spread across her face. There was no way she would leave the Doctor yet. She looked in his face then gave him a big hug. But it still made Luna wonder how long it would be before she would be saying good bye.