A/N: Well hello there! I hope you are all doing well. I'm posting this half asleep, so apologies if I have missed any spelling or grammatical errors. I'll try to get to them as quickly as I can. I've got big plans coming up! I started on them yesterday, I can't wait to share it with you. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Kari had been wrong about it being just a normal headache. Just as she had been falling asleep the Doctor woke her up, worry and panic filling his voice. He hadn't been able to wake her up fully, she was still disorientated and barely able to register what was going on. That was why she was very confused when she woke up and saw another man sitting next to where she was laying, watching her with eyes full of concern.
"Finally, sleeping beauty wakes." The voice said mockingly, although the worry lines on his face told a different story.
Kari frowned at him as she tried to gather her bearings, to work out what had happened. "Um, hi?" She didn't really know what else to say, she was still in the same bed she fell asleep in, but this was not the man that she had been with at the time.
"Are you okay?" The Doctor finally asked her, a hand reaching on and resting on her cheek.
If Kari hadn't been confused, she certainly was now. Since when was her big eared Doctor this worried about her? "No." It slipped out before she had even thought about it, and regretted it instantly. "I'm… I'm okay, Doctor. I've just been tired, that's all."
But it was too late, the damage had been done and the worry was flooding him. "Oh, I know you've been tired. You've been asleep for about 3 days." Even the tone of his voice oozed with worry and concern. "What happened, Kari?"
She knew that she couldn't tell him the truth, it would just make him even more concerned. Somehow she was going to have to sugar coat it and make it seem like she hadn't almost just died several times. "You know what happens after I use the time vortex to do something stupid. It drains me. I must have jumped while I was sleeping. Again." Kari hated lying to the Doctor, especially when her relationship with this regeneration had not always been so great. She didn't want her lies to make things worse between them.
"And you call me a bad liar." The Doctor retorted, knowing straight away that she wasn't telling him the truth. He had lost count of the amount of times that she had called him out for lying to her, now he was doing it to her.
Kari let out a sigh. "It's all the way in your future. I was trapped in a facility where my timestream was being compressed. The time vortex was trying to fight it. It wasn't something that I did by choice, the time vortex just seemed to… take over." Hopefully with that little added detail, the Doctor would back off and not ask any more questions.
The worry was still there on his face as he continued to gaze down at her. He knew that there was still more that she wasn't telling him, but the Doctor knew not to push her. If he did, then there was no chance she was going to tell him the truth at all. "Okay, are you still feeling tired?"
"Maybe just a little." Kari admitted, still trying to drag herself back to reality. "I think I'm more disorientated than anything else." The Doctor looked at her, waiting for her to explain. "I don't like it when I get pulled when I'm sleeping. It just makes me confused when I wake up and find I'm somewhere different." This wasn't the first time she had been pulled while sleeping, and Kari had a feeling that it wasn't going to be the last time it happened either. It wasn't the first time she had woken up in the bed of this regeneration, but at least this time he was happy to see her. They must be on good terms, Kari guessed that she must have arrived before everything that happened with Jack. "So what have you been up to anyway?" She asked, trying to take the focus off her as well as work out where they were up to.
"Oh, you know, just pottering around, waiting for you." The Doctor replied, not giving her much of an answer. "But nevermind that, now that you're awake I'll go and make us some tea." He reached over and planted a kiss on the top of her head, before getting up and heading out of the door.
As he went, Kari couldn't help but frown. Something was off, but she wasn't sure exactly what it was. She was glad that they were getting along, there was no doubt about that, but there just seemed to be something that wasn't… right. Kari knew that there was no point in asking him, because he would never tell her, so she was going to have to work it out another way. She ended up closing her eyes and just thinking about him, about the man she was with, her Doctor with the big ears.
It didn't take long for her to be able to hear his thoughts. "You have got to take better care of her. What kind of man are you in the future to let this happen to her?" Kari heard him say to himself. "You are meant to be looking after her. You are meant to protect her. She is your wife and you are not looking after her?" It was pretty clear to Kari that he was getting himself worked up. That was not what she wanted, she didn't want him to keep blaming himself, especially when it was not his fault.
Kari let out a sigh as she opened her eyes. She didn't need to listen to any more. "Why does he always blame himself?" She muttered, getting into a more comfortable sitting position on the bed while she waited for him to return. "It is not his fault, not in the slightest. I'm hot headed and stubborn, how often do I actually really listen to him?" A hum came from the ship in response. "Yeah, exactly. He needs to spend less time worrying about me and more time thinking of places that we can go." The ship hummed around her once more. "Do I even want to know what has been going on around here recently?" This time she was left with silence, which told her everything she needed. "Something bad?" There was a hum, but it was low, and sad. Whatever had happened, it clearly hadn't been good. That could be the reason why the Doctor was acting so differently.
Instead of dwelling on it too much, Kari just glanced around the room. Everytime she was in there it seemed to be different. This room didn't move around with her, there were things missing from where she had just been. It didn't actually bother her, as far as she was concerned this was the Doctor's room and not hers. Kari still had her own room with all of her things in it, the room that the Doctor was very rarely allowed to enter. She ended up drifting into her own little world as she just began to think about the places that she had been with the Doctor.
When the Doctor returned, he was a little worried to see that Kari was just sitting there, staring off into space. He carefully placed the two mugs of tea down on the side table and sat on the bed beside her. The movement of the bed disturbed her and she quickly looked at him, the fog that he had seen in her eyes quickly fading away. "You alright there?" He asked her, trying his best not to sound as worried as he really was.
Kari just smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm okay. I was just remembering some of the places that you've taken me, actually. Or places you will take me." She still hadn't worked out where they were up to. He hadn't mentioned Rose yet, so she could be with the Doctor before they met her, before they met Jack, before the Doctor became insanely jealous and they both started fighting.
"Oh yeah, anywhere nice?" The Doctor asked her, passing her the tea now that he knew she was okay and not lost in her own little world.
With the hot tea now in her hands, Kari felt herself relax a little. "Definitely some amazing places in there. A few not so amazing, a bit more… terrifying. Always a surprise though." She still hadn't worked out where they were up to, so she had to be careful what she said to him. He hadn't mentioned Rose at all, so she really was starting to think that this was the time before they met her.
The Doctor smiled at her. "Well, what's the point if there isn't a little bit of terror thrown in every now and again?" He asked, chuckling a little while she rolled her eyes at him. "So come on then, where do you want to go? Another planet? Past or future? Anywhere you like. You get to pick."
Now that he had said that, she was certain that this was before they had met Rose. "I really don't mind, We will go wherever she takes us." Kari said, resulting in the ship humming. "She's very good at getting us to the right places." The moment Kari said that, the engines started grinding and a smile stretched across her face.
"I do wish you wouldn't do that." The Doctor moaned, which only resulted in Kari giving him a weird look. She didn't understand what he meant by that, what had she done? "Sending us off without having to even do anything. You just sit here in bed and she starts up at your command."
"Hey, I didn't do anything, thank you very much." Kari protested, understanding what he meant now. "She just heard me, that's all. She is more than capable of piloting herself, she just lets you have a go sometimes." Saying that, she had to stop herself from laughing. Kari was fully aware of how much flying the Doctor really did, and how much of it was the TARDIS taking care of them herself.
The look on the Doctor's face at that moment was priceless, and Kari wished that she could have just frozen it and kept it with her forever. "Oh, she lets me, does she?" He replied, the tone of his voice not angry at all. "Well, from now on, how about you two plan everywhere we go. Tell you what, why don't you start taking me to all these amazing and wonderful places then?"
Kari shrugged at him slightly. "Okay then. If that's what you want, then that is what will happen." She told him, taking a sip of her tea. "Any requests? Or are you happy for a surprise?" There was no way she was going to let the Doctor think that she wasn't up to it, that she wasn't capable of surprising him.
Kari could see the conflicted look on his face, he clearly hadn't been prepared for her to take him up on his offer. "Surprise me." He finally said, taking a sip of his own tea, trying to hide the slight worry that was on his face. The Doctor was starting to think that he had made a mistake. He knew that he should never challenge Kari, because she would never back down from a challenge, but this had been something different, and he was starting to regret it already.
"Right, well best drink up then. I'm going to go and get changed, then I'll meet you by the console." Kari told him, downing the rest of her tea and jumping up off the bed. She was out of the door before the Doctor even had a chance to reply to her, heading straight to her room so that she could put some fresh clothes on. There was no way she was going to be leaving the blue box knowing that she had been asleep in those clothes for 3 days. In fact, Kari knew that she really needed to take a quick shower first.
She managed to shower in what she thought was record time and smiled when she saw a pair of jeans and a blue jumper sitting on the bed waiting for her. "Thanks, Sexy." Kari said, a small smile slipping onto her face. Within minutes she was dressed and heading along the corridor and towards the console room, where she was hoping that the Doctor was already going to be there waiting.
To her surprise he was there, ready and waiting for her. "So come on then, where are we off to?" He asked, watching as she strolled around the console.
All Kari could do was smile at him as she poked her head around the time rotor to look at him. "You're just going to have to wait and see." She replied, before pulling down the lever and sending them hurtling faster through the time vortex. The TARDIS had already started their journey, but Kari was the one who was going to finish it.
The pair of them both held on tightly until they landed, the ship making that slight boom noise as it did. Kari couldn't help but let her smile grow bigger and bigger. This was such an exciting time for her, the Doctor was letting her take charge, letting her decide where they were going. The roles had reversed and she was the one who was going to surprise him for a change. Kari just hoped that she was going to surprise him.
"Are you ready?" Kari asked, bouncing around the console and over to the Doctor. She was so excited, and everything that had been happening recently seemed to be at the back of her mind. She didn't care about the fact that she could hear the Doctor's thoughts, especially when they were thoughts about her and how excited she was.
A huge grin spread across his face now as well. "Come on then, before you burst with all this excitement." He told her, before she grabbed a tight hold of his hand and dragged him towards the doors. "If I'd have known this was going to get you so excited and happy I would have done this centuries ago."
Kari didn't care, she was excited. She was getting on with her big eared Doctor, he was happy, she was happy. Everything was just… perfect. "Doctor, prepare to be amazed." She said, before turning the latch on the door and pulling it open. She knew where they were, the TARDIS had told her, and it was somewhere that even she had never been before.
The Doctor stepped outside of the TARDIS and his mouth went slack. Without looking he reached his hand back, quickly finding Kari's and tugged her out of the blue box. "You have got to see this." He said, his eyes transfixed on the sky.
A moment later and she was standing next to him, her eyes drawn to the sky above them. "Iris Caelum." She whispered, stunned by the sight before her. The sky was just a rainbow of colours, of every colour, just swirling and flowing. It was like someone had painted the sky with every colour imaginable and then just kept swirling it around, making it move but never mix. It was just such a spectacular sight. "A planet that really does live up to its name." Kari added, looking up at the Doctor. Even his eyes were transfixed on the sky above them.
"Iris Caelum, Latin for rainbow sky." The Doctor said, before looking at Kari. "What made you think of coming here?" He asked her, his curiosity starting to get the better of him.
All Kari could really do was smile at him. "You always take me to see the most amazing and breathtaking places. It was my turn to do that for you." She said, before reaching back into the TARDIS and grabbing something. The Doctor just watched her as her arm came back out with a large basket now hanging on it. "I even brought a picnic, with wine."
For the first time in a very long time, the Doctor was speechless. It was rare for Kari to be able to surprise him like that, but he loved it. "Well, we better go and find a good spot then, hadn't we?" He finally said, letting Kari lead the way.
It didn't take them long to find somewhere to set up their picnic. There was no one else around, they seemed to be in a field somewhere, just the pair of them. "So come on then, what have you been up to really?" The Doctor asked, taking a sip of the red wine Kari had given him.
Where did she start? There was so much that had happened since the last time she had seen this regeneration, and not much of it was good. "Since the last time I saw this you, a lot. Bumped into Sarah Jane, Cybermen, spiders, Daleks, more Cybermen, and a facility that was compressing my timestream." There was something that she had left out, something that she didn't want to mention to him because she did not want him to worry. Terra Earth.
"Spiders?" The Doctor asked her, an eyebrow raise.
"Yeah. Giant spiders." Kari informed him, an involuntary shiver running through her. "You know, now that I think about it, we haven't actually had a date night in ages. Well, I haven't anyway." It all seemed to be running around and getting in and out of trouble recently. It really had just been one thing after the other and Kari really was happy to just spend some time with the Doctor.
The Doctor looked at her. "Well, this is date night. And since when have you had a problem with spiders?" He couldn't remember Kari ever being afraid of spiders before, or her telling him that they creeped her out.
Kari shrugged her shoulders at him slightly as she took a sip of her own glass of wine. "I have no idea. I said that at the time, I don't know when I started having an issue with spiders. But these were very very big spiders." She explained to him. "I mean, there was a spider that was bigger than a double decker bus." Kari had to stop herself from shivering again. "Anyway, forget the spiders, there are no spiders here. This is date night. I just want to spend some time with you where we can relax and take it easy."
After a little more chatting they fell into a comfortable silence, Kari resting against the Doctor as he wrapped an arm around her, "Where should I take her next?" Kari heard the Doctor think. "We could go to Meta Sigmafolio, I bet Kari would love it there. Oh, or Arcadia. Catrigan Nova, I keep meaning to show her that planet." Kari couldn't help but chuckle a little. "What you laughing at?" The Doctor suddenly said, having heard Kari.
She shook her head a little. "Nothing, honestly, it's nothing. I'm just… I'm glad to be here with you, that's all." There was no way she was going to tell him that she could hear everything he was thinking, she didn't need to explain all of that to him yet again. It was something that was far, far in his future, she wasn't going to spoil their time together with something that just didn't matter. "I don't care where we are, or where we go, as long as you are there, Doctor. Remember that."
"Even if we went to Skaro?" The Doctor asked. He was now gazing at her, while she was still gazing at the sky.
"Please." She scoffed. "I've been somewhere way worse than Skaro." Kari told him, thinking about how they would end up being fired at a planet full of crazy Daleks, by the Daleks. "Try again."
Now the Doctor was interested, it seemed like Kari was challenging him. "Clom?"
Kari had heard that name before, and rather recently too. "Don't they have a Disneyland there?" She asked him, forcing herself not to smile and keep her eyes focused on the colours before her.
"Kembel?"
"Didn't you reduce that planet to nothing but a desert?" Kari reminded him. "As I said, it doesn't matter where we go, all that matters is that we are together." She told him, finally turning her gaze to look at him. "Okay?"
The Doctor nodded at her and smiled. "Okay." He told her, before reaching down and pressing his lips against hers. The moment they touched Kari could feel so many different things. She could feel just how much the Doctor cared about her, how much he wanted to protect her, to take care of her, to look after her. It was actually a little overwhelming. Her head started spinning a little, and a fog began to fill her mind. "Kari? Hey, you okay?" The Doctor called, having noticed that something wasn't quite right with her.
Kari had to blink several times to get herself to refocus, to pull herself together. "Yeah, I'm… I'm okay. Sorry." She replied, trying to keep herself calm. "You just… took my breath away a little then." Kari knew it sounded cheesy, but there was no way that she could tell him the truth. The Doctor she had been with before, where she had just come from, something similar had happened then. All his thoughts and feelings had made her feel overwhelmed and her legs gave way. Although she had put that down to the fact that the time vortex had been keeping her going, she hadn't thought about the possibility it was because she was being bombarded with the Doctor's emotions as well.
The look that he was giving her just screamed that he did not believe a word that she had just said to him. "Now why do I not believe that?" He asked, a worry and concern now beginning to spread across his face.
She didn't know what to do. If Kari told him the truth, then she knew that he was going to worry, he was going to panic and drag her back to the TARDIS, do some tests and scans and then their date would be over. They were having a good time and she really didn't want to spoil that. "Because you worry about me far too much." She ended up telling him, before going back to resting her head against him. "I'll be honest with you, Doctor, the past few… weeks, have been pretty rough." There was no chance she would tell him the past few years had been rough, he really would lose it if she told him that. "My head is still a little scrambled. Those 3 days of sleeping clearly haven't been enough."
Even after telling him that, Kari could still feel how much he was worrying, but it wasn't as bad as before. "Is this from that facility you mentioned? Where your timestream was being compressed?" Kari nodded a little. "Are you going to tell me any more about it? About what happened?"
"I can't. It's in your future, far in your future." Kari told him, wishing she could tell him more. She hated that she had to keep so much from him, how she couldn't always be honest with him because of things that had yet to happen for him. "Just know that it was not fun and the time vortex was trying to protect me the whole time I was in there. Hence why I decided to sleep for 3 days after I showed up in your bed."
"Our bed." The Doctor replied, sounding a little disgruntled. "Not my bed, our bed."
Of course, of all the things that she had just said to him, that was the thing that he decided to pick out and prod at. "Until I finally marry you, that is your bed." Kari told him, wondering how he was going to respond knowing now that she wasn't actually married to him yet. Sometimes he would get upset over it, or moody, but this version of him, he never seemed to take the news too badly.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "We could go and get married now if you'd like." Now it was Kari's turn to roll her eyes. "What do you say?"
"I say that you need to be patient and just wait. I'll marry you someday, don't you worry about that." Kari told him, smiling as she thought back to all those times that he had asked her to marry him so far. "I know that you are a married man, you have been telling me as much for such a long time now. I don't care if you call me your wife when I'm not, because I know that someday I will be." Long ago, she used to get annoyed when he called her his wife when she wasn't, but now it doesn't bother her so much. She actually kind of liked it.
She felt the Doctor lightly press his lips against her head. "If that is what my wife wants, then that is what my wife shall get." He was beaming away. The Doctor had to admit, these were the kind of moments that were special to him. All those adventures they had together, the places they saw, they were great, but moments like this, where it was just the two of them, where they could just be totally and completely honest with each other, those were the moments that he treasured the most.
The couple stayed there for quite some time, just taking in the view and enjoying being together. Finally, the Doctor went onto one of his little history rants and told Kari all about Iris Caelum and what it is that is actually causing all the different colours. All Kari could do was let out a groan, before complaining that he was ruining it with all the science behind it.
"If you had to relive one moment in time, over and over again, what would it be?" The Doctor asked after some time of silence.
Kari frowned as she looked at him. "What, like in that film, 'Groundhog Day' where he kept reliving the same day over and over again until he got it right?" She asked, wondering where that question had come from.
"Well, sort of. You just keep reliving the same moment. There is no fix or way to get out of it." The Doctor added, keeping the expression on his face unreadable. "One moment, forever. What would it be?"
All of a sudden, her mind went totally blank. She couldn't think of a single moment. "I… I don't…" Why was he asking her something like that? "What kind of question is that?" Kari retorted, having absolutely no answer whatsoever.
There was a smirk on the Doctor's face. "A very simple one, actually."
"Oh yeah? If it's so simple, why don't you answer it first then." Kari was not going to let him get away with that, he was starting to get a little smug and she did not approve of it at all.
"Well, it might have been this moment, right here. But since you're all moody and starting to get cross, then I'd say the day we finally got married." The smug look on his face didn't fade, the grin he was wearing just grew bigger. The Doctor knew that she wasn't married yet, that she hadn't experienced their wedding. He was hanging a huge spoiler over her head.
At first, Kari didn't really know how to respond, she wasn't sure what she could say. Then it hit her. "So, I either marry you in this regeneration or one before. Thanks for that." In all honesty, she already had a feeling that she had married a much younger Doctor, so a previous regeneration of him. This comment that he had made just confirmed it. "And I'm not moody or cross."
It took a moment for the Doctor to realise what she had said, and what he had actually said. "No, wait…" The panic flashed across his face for a brief second. "That's not…"
While Kari did enjoy seeing the Doctor a little flustered, she wasn't going to make him suffer. Much. "Oh, do calm down dear. I already know I marry a different version of you, someone from your past. It was never that hard to work it out. I mean, you have been going on about how you are a married man for such a long time now. I just don't know what regeneration it is that I get to marry."
The Doctor cleared his throat and tried not to look too flushed by what had just happened. "Right, okay. Well then, what moment would you pick?"
In truth, Kari just didn't know. She wouldn't pick the moment that she first met the Doctor, because that was not her greatest moment. She had thought that it was all a dream, that none of it was real. That wasn't the moment that Kari would be happy to keep reliving over and over again. Kari then thought about when he proposed to her, but it had happened more than once. "I can't decide. There are so many moments that I would want to relive forever, I can't just pick one."
Apparently, that was a very good answer because a huge smile spread across the Doctor's face. It wasn't because he had won, that he had a moment and she didn't, it was because she had so many moments that she was unable to settle for just one of them. That meant more to him than her picking a single moment. "Ah well, maybe someday you'll have that one moment."
While Kari was a little suspicious, she let it drop. They were having such a nice time together and there was no way she was going to accuse or question him, she didn't want to ruin it. This was one of those rare moments where she could sit with him in silence and everything just seemed right. There were no monsters, no aliens, and no having to save anyone or anything. It was a nice, quiet break from what was normally their life. Sometimes, Kari liked that.
A/N: I know, kind of a little filler chapter, but you'll understand why soon enough. I feel like there just isn't enough time for Kari with 9 so I wanted to add something more.
A big thank you to all those who have taken the time to leave reviews, I really do appreciate it and it is nice to see people still reading and enjoying it after all these years.
Anyway, as I said before I have big things planned, something that has been mentioned before, way back now. This is something I have been thinking about for a while and I have decided to just go for it. So I hoep that you enjoy it when the time comes.
Until the next time!
Pippa.