As she lay on the sand, Peri sometimes wondered why she still traveled with the maniac.
Sure, in the beginning, she had wanted to get away. Away from Harold. Away from Mom. Away from the tragedy. Just away.
Then, she had started to feel like the dapper man she traveled with was like the older brother she never had. He never sought danger. He always said the things that made her smile. When Erimem had been with them, it had been perfect.
Androzani Minor changed that. Sharez Jek was not the first person that had wanted Peri for her beauty. She had survived high school, she knew what boys thought with, and what they could be capable of. She had even endured some random aliens on their journeys checking her out. She could handle it. She could deal with it. Sharez Jek was not typical, though. He had made her feel dirty. Without really doing anything. It was sick. It was depraved. And she still felt sorry for the man. He had not deserved his fate.
Androzani had not only brought Sharez Jek to haunt her dreams, but the Doctor had changed with it. The wonderful dapper cricketer, the brother she always longed for, died.
Now, there was HIM.
THE MANIAC.
He had been a new man for five minutes when he had tried to kill her. Okay, maybe more than five minutes, but he had tried to strangle her.
That was three weeks ago, and Peri still wondered why she had not insisted on being taken home.
Harold and her Mom would not strangle her. The stupid boys at school, despite what they had done, had never tried to kill her. Sharez Jek, deranged as he was, had not wanted her death.
So why was she staying with this raving egomaniac on this craggy moon?
Peri Brown had no idea.
Yes, she did. She just didn't want to admit it.
He needed her.
She had seen it. Just after he had started strangling her, there had been a flash in his eyes. Just a moment. A flash that called to the most basic instinct that Peri possessed. He needed help. He needed her to help him.
She had not wanted to admit this. It was humiliating. He was the Doctor.
She loved hearing stories about his past (future?) exploits against strange aliens on strange worlds. She knew that he had knowledge that spanned the universe. She knew that he did not need anything. He was the Doctor.
And yet, he needed her.
She did not want to think this because it was too much. How could she help him? She was a twenty-something botany major from the small planet of Earth. She could be sassy. She was smart. But she was pathetic compared to the Doctor.
He can't need her. It is impossible.
He can't need her.
Because she needs him.
There it was.
The bitter truth that she did not want to acknowledge.
No matter how much she could plan or dream about it, Peri knew that she could not return to Earth.
It was not home anymore.
She had no idea how long she had traveled with the Doctor, but she knew that she was no longer suitable for Earth. It was too small, too closed for her.
She wasn't going home because only the Doctor was big enough for her.
She would die with him. She knew that. Deep down where she did not want to think, she knew that she would die with him.
He would live. He would keep on keeping on. The Universe needed him to live.
The Universe did not need Peri Brown.
No one needed Peri.
But he did.
And, she thought, maybe that was enough.
Peri stood up. She walked over to where the Doctor was sitting on a rock, just looking up at the sky.
"Let's get out of here." She said.
He smiled. "Where?"
"Does it matter?"
"No."