Sometimes, there were clues that you could perceive from those around you. Once you know someone so well, they leave little markers or there are little twitches in their face that they hope you miss.
Like the Doctor. He thought I missed it. Every time he looked over at me, his smiled dropped before I turned to look back at him. He could feel what I felt: that something bad was going to happen. That maybe I wouldn't be in the TARDIS much longer. The inkling came from every crevice of the TARDIS; I think she was trying to tell me. And I really wanted to cry and deny that I was going to go away, but I wasn't going to take any of it sitting down. I was going to leave the TARDIS on my terms. And my terms alone.
"Titan, then?" I leaned on the console and looked at the Doctor across from me. "Isn't that like a moon or something?" The Doctor smacked some buttons and yanked a lever.
"Saturn's moon, to be exact." The Doctor smiled over at me. "They turned it into a theme park, well sort of. The gravity was already off, but they tweaked it a bit." I looked confused, so the Doctor continued. "You can fly around on it." I nodded and we seemed to land on Titan, or wherever we were, if we made it to Titan at all. "Let's go fly." The Doctor took me by the arm and we ventured outside.
Looking out, the surface was rocky and brownish red. It really looked like we were on Mars, or any other uninhabited planet. There were no real distinguishing factors from any other rocky surface. Until I tried to walk.
The first step out of the TARDIS was like trying to walk in a bouncy castle. My balance failed me, but it seemed as though I couldn't fall. My feet made their way forward until I was standing a small distance away from the TARDIS. The Doctor stayed at the TARDIS, watching me. I turned back towards him after scanning the horizon.
"I can fly?" I called back, ready to take off. When I noticed the slight nod of the Doctor, I smiled. "Tell me how." I thought I caught a glimpse of the Doctor's smile in return.
"Would you accept faith, trust, and pixie dust as an answer?" There was laughter in his voice as he spoke. He was enjoying this. "Just jump." He demonstrated and flew over to me. "It's pretty simple; just got to get a handle on it." I looked down at the ground, wondering whether I should jump up. I could fall or crash. A billion different things could happen and not all of them could be good.
But I jumped up, prepared to plummet back to the ground. I didn't. Instead I floated, though I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do after. The slightest move made me tip upside down. The Doctor helped me right myself, but I didn't know how to move, so I just stopped. I floated in the air, waiting for something to happen. The Doctor smiled and flew around behind me, shoving me forward. I struggled to get a balance in the air. As soon as I got the hang of it, figured out what I had to do to fly, I had fun with it. The Doctor and I flew all around the moon. There were some really great views that almost took my breath away.
"This is really beautiful, isn't it Doctor?" I smiled over at him as we hovered over the rocks of a great cliff. We were overlooking a valley. Of course it was brownish red and much of it was the same color, but it still was breathtaking. "Have you ever been here before?"
"Once, when I was a young boy." The Doctor looked over the horizon lost in thought. I didn't think that he wanted to be dwelling on things like that. He wanted to be cheerful and I thought he deserved that.
"Oh, so you were here last week." I smiled and flew away as fast as I could as he tried to chase after me. We flew around, him still giving chase. We were laughing and having fun. It was a change of pace. "It's almost as if nothing could go wrong." I was pretending to back stroke through the atmosphere.
"Don't you know, Rachel, you're never supposed to say things like that." The Doctor was laughing, though. "Either way, we should head back to the TARDIS now. It's getting late."
I nodded and we started to fly towards the TARDIS. I flew backwards most of the way. I was having too much fun gliding around going backwards, but watching the Doctor to make sure I didn't run into anything. However, I didn't catch the Doctor stopping and I backed full force into a hard metal wall.
It wasn't really a wall. As I turned, I found it to be like a great robot. It towered over me while I was midair, but its feet were firmly planted on the ground. I looked at the Doctor who was sizing them up and hovering just before their faces.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is Rachel Foster, we were just here having a bit of fun. What are you doing here?" I smiled at the robot in front of us and felt a tickle in my throat. I tried to clear it, but I didn't want to get in the way of the Doctor figuring out what was wrong.
"What is your purpose here?" The robot's voice was monotone and male, just like most robots I had met. The Doctor turned to me as I kept trying to clear my throat. I waved him off and he kept on in his inquiry with the robot.
"Like I said, we needed a bit of fun. But I asked first, why are you here?" The Doctor flew around the robot full circle. The only part of the robot that turned was his head, following the Doctor.
"This moon is contaminated with pneumonoplastitus bronchus 13Z." I could instantly see the Doctor's smile drop. He turned to me as I let out a full-blown cough, trying to get the tickle out of my throat.
"Sorry, Doctor, it's just a tickle. I just need some water." I smiled as the Doctor flew over to me and cupped my face in his hand. "What's wrong?" I was starting to worry. What was pneumonoplastitus bronchus 13Z that the robot was talking about?
"I'm so sorry Rachel, but you're going to need a lot more than water." He looked at me like he was so worried and enraged. It made my bones weak with fear. The Doctor turned back to the robot. "This should be MARKED!" Hearing the Doctor shout shocked me. He was really angry.
The Doctor grabbed my hand and he flew us quickly back to the TARDIS. I still had no idea what was going on, but the tickle in my throat was getting worse. The Doctor and I entered the TARDIS and landed on our feet. Immediately I went to find a glass of water. It didn't help with the tickle in my throat.
When I got back to the console room, the Doctor wasn't doing anything, except seemingly waiting for me. He was sitting in my chair, my notebook in his lap, flipping through the pages and stroking each one as it passed.
"Doctor, is something wrong?" I sat next to him. The Doctor seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking and closed my notebook.
"Pneumonoplastitus bronchus 13Z." The Doctor sighed and grabbed one of my hands. I smiled over at him, ignoring the growing discomfort emanating from my throat.
"Yeah, what is that anyway?" I stood and took the Doctor's usual spot leaning against the console.
"It's a fatal lung disease that affects your breathing and, eventually, you die. There's no known cure. It was a cause for a wipe-out of humans in the 63rd century. There's nothing I can do." The Doctor looked up at me. I could tell he was trying to stay calm and not cry; I was too.
"I'm assuming I have it." I looked over at the Doctor who nodded in confirmation. "Um, why don't you?" The Doctor looked up at me, a deep sadness in his eyes.
"Because I'm a Time Lord with two hearts and we have immunity from pneumonoplastitus bronchus 13Z." The Doctor placed his head in his hands. "I'm so sorry." I felt as a single tear leaked from my eye and trailed its way down my cheek.
"There's no cure and no one in the world that could help us?" I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed. But the Doctor bolted up from the chair, shaking his head. I could see the determination in his eyes.
"We're going somewhere to visit some friends of mine and I'm hoping they can help." The Doctor started to dance frantically around the console of the TARDIS. I could tell this wasn't a real plan and there was no real hope that going to see this friend would help. But this was the Doctor's last-ditch, all-chips-in effort and he was clinging to a hope that maybe I could get through this. And I was right next to him, hoping the same thing.
"Where are we going Doctor?" I looked over at the Doctor, wiping away the tears in my eyes. The Doctor didn't stop or slow down as he replied to me.
"We're going to see the ood."
He rushed around the TARDIS console and I sat down in my chair. I couldn't believe what he had just told me. I was going to die from an alien disease and there was nothing I could do about it. But I knew the Doctor. There was always something he could do.
My coughing became more incessant as it took longer for the Doctor to fly the TARDIS. We landed and he took a deep breath, waiting for me to join him by the door. I had to take a moment, as my head started to get dizzy and my legs started to feel as though an elephant had sat on them and I was just walking after the pachyderm got up. I wasn't steady and the Doctor knew it as he placed his arm around my waist and helped me walk. I hated that I needed his help, but I could tell that if he let me go, I would fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
It was incredibly cold outside, snow blew like a storm and waiting for us, I saw distinctly three ood. Only one of the three was like Oodmund with a translator ball. The other two looked the same, though they wore different clothes and instead of a translator ball, they held tiny brains in their hands. I didn't think much about it and realized that what seemed like years ago, before I met the Doctor, something like that would have made me faint on the spot.
As we approached closer, two more ood came out from what seemed like the snow and held their hands out to me. They both had the communication balls and the Doctor's grip became tighter on my waist. That was when I noticed the omega sign on one of the two ood's chest.
"Oodmund," I stepped forward, away from the Doctor to embrace the ood before me that I knew as Oodmund. The ood nodded and caught me as my legs stopped working beneath me.
"Rachel-" The Doctor's voice caught in his throat and I knew that he wanted to say something, but I also knew that he couldn't. I felt Oodmund take a few steps backwards, away from the Doctor.
"See you later, Doctor." I smiled as my body leaned against that of my ood friend. Oodmund and the other ood started to walk me towards a beautiful structure that looked like a cathedral or a gothic palace. They led me inside where I was taken to a room.
One ood was sitting before a fire, his head shaped as though molded by a brain, instead of having it peak in the center. His eyes were closed until I was set on the other side of the fire, across from him. Its eyes snapped open and he looked at me.
"So, she has arrived." The ood hadn't spoken aloud; he didn't have a translator ball. "Your mind, child, is where my voice resonates." The ood's head tilted back. "I believe it is time."
He didn't really speak to me again, just seemed to dismiss the other ood, except Oodmund; he stayed by my side. And I was grateful because I wouldn't have been able to cope with the news I was given after without a familiar presence.
"The Doctor has left you." My obvious shock did not stop the ood who seemed to be some sort of high ranking individual. "We will care for you. There is nothing we can do for your condition, save prolong the time you have left in this world. The Doctor, though, must travel through the stars throughout time to find the things we need before it is too late for you." My body was wracked by a coughing fit as the ood finished speaking. There was nothing I could do to quell it. "If it is not too late already." The rest of the coughs stuck in my throat.
I looked to Oodmund for some form of comfort, but all he did was keep his gaze on the ood across the fire from us. The ood elder stood and walked towards us around the fire. He placed his hand on my head and walked out the door.
Oodmund took me further into the room to try and get me to lie down on a bed. I didn't want to lie down, I wanted to find the Doctor; I wanted to help him and not be sick anymore. This illness scared me.
"You must lay down, Rachel; your health depends on it." Oodmund eased me down on the bed. I would not lie still, and immediately sat back up. Oodmund again attempted to get me to be still.
"Where's the Doctor?" I looked frantically about as another cough stuck in my throat. Oodmund held my hand and reassured me that the Doctor would be right there to comfort me. I drifted in and out of sleep, not really sure if what I saw each time I woke up was reality or not.
What seemed like hours passed and I felt my body grow hotter and hotter. The elder ood came to check on me a couple times and each time I asked if the Doctor had come. Each time I got the same shake of the head; the Doctor was gone.
Eventually I drifted off to sleep and could no longer open my eyes. In a blind consciousness, I felt the sweat clinging to my brow. Someone took a cloth and wiped it away as they stroked my hair; a much more familiar and affectionate gestured than what I would expect from Oodmund. I couldn't move and I couldn't open my eyes to see who was taking care of me. I figured it wasn't the Doctor because the next moment I heard him.
"Where is she? Let me see her, I have what she needs," the Doctor shouted. I could only imagine him pushing past oods as he rushed into the room. "I got what you wanted, now help her." There was no patience in his voice, just a tone of urgent need.
Somewhere in the room there was shuffling and I heard a chant start up. It grew closer and I felt my body being lifted into a sitting position. Sticky fingers dabbed my eyelids and nostrils. The odor was disgusting and I could feel the bile rising in my throat. I didn't get the chance to vomit, however, because the sticky liquid was forced into my mouth and down my esophagus. My body, still not under my control, was lowered back to lying down.
"Now we must wait. Doctor, you must be prepared for if you were too late." It was the elder ood. I heard the Doctor start to speak, but he was cut off by another speaker.
"That's not good enough. Do something else. You said you could help her." I knew the voice belonged to Dorian. He was upset by the tone of his voice. I wished I could open my eyes to see him and I wished I could smile.
"We have done all we can." I felt hands touch my face; a very clinical touch. "Though she seems to be receiving the medicine well, the illness may still resurface in the future." I heard a fist slam into the wall and felt the vibrations from where I lie. There was a scuffling sound and mumbled whispers in a far corner. I couldn't discern what was being said, or even who was in the whispering group. But I could feel the hand in mine.
"Come on Rachel, pull through this. It's the least you could do. I've searched the stars for you." I could almost hear tease on Dorian's lips as he spoke, but he was too serious, too upset.
I felt slime in my stomach, as if the medicine had come to life. It seemed to move and soak and spread through my body. Oh, how I wanted to vomit the stuff up. The sensation was not a pleasant one. As soon as the medicine soaked through my body, I felt as though my fever, the fire's temperature grew tenfold.
"We have to get going." It was the Doctor. "There's one more thing we have to do before she's alright." I assumed the Doctor had spoken to the ood about what would happen next. I felt myself being lifted and carried. Then I was laid down again and I distinctly heard the sounds of the TARDIS engines. Eventually, I started to feel my temperature going down. I no longer felt as though my body was on fire. My eyes opened and I smiled. As I regained control of the rest of my body, I got up and weakly walked out of my room. Both the Doctor and Dorian were standing around the console as the Doctor flew the TARDIS. They were talking in hushed tones and as soon as they noticed I was awake and in the room, they stopped talking.
"Hey, thanks for getting what the ood needed to help me, I'm feeling better now. I'll be fine, right?" There was still a faint hope in my mind that slipped away as I spoke. I sat down in my regular seat and watched as the Doctor smiled and Dorian played with his vortex manipulator. I sighed, exhausted and defeated. "It's ok. I know that I might relapse. I won't be contagious though, right?" I looked at the Doctor. His smile had fallen from his face.
"No, you're not contagious, but your body can't take too much strain." He kept on flying the TARDIS, avoiding all eye contact with me.
"So what? No more running for me? Cause that's fantastic I hated the running the most." I smiled over at the Doctor but still his eyes refused to look in my direction. "Dorian, you coming with us?" I was happy with his response of a smile and a nod. Though he wouldn't speak, I was happy of his acknowledgement. A cough wracked my body and the two before me seemed to cringe. I couldn't contain the anger that rose up in my gut. It was anger, not really at them, but at my circumstances. And it boiled over. "God damn it!" I exploded. I took my notebook, ever on its place in my chair, and chucked it across the console room. Both men looked away from me. The engines of the TARDIS stopped and I stood. Trying to calm my rage. "Where are we?" The Doctor walked up to me, a sad smile on his face.
"We're home, Rachel." The Doctor took my hands and led me towards the door. Dorian was already there, waiting to push the door open for us. Dorian ventured out first as my feet stuck in their spot in the door frame.
"That's impossible." I gripped the doorway of the TARDIS as I looked out at Hyde Park and the statue of Peter Pan shrouded in night. I understood immediately. "My home is the TARDIS, Doctor. You can't make me leave." I turned to look at him. "Please." Tears filled my eyes as he pulled me into the tightest hug I had ever felt.
"You were one of the best, Rachel Foster." I clung tighter to the Doctor as he pulled away. "But now it's time to say goodbye, for your own good."
"No, don't say goodbye. Cause you're gonna visit me, right?" I looked up at the Doctor and wiped away my tears. I understood what he was saying, but a part of me would never accept it.
"Of course." His voice broke over the words and I could tell he wasn't sure he'd be back. He leaned in to kiss my head. "I'll be back and I'll never forget you." I turned back toward London waiting just outside the TARDIS.
"I don't know what I'll do without you." I refused to turn around again. To look back in the TARDIS and see the life I had with the Doctor might have killed me on the spot. I never wanted to leave the TARDIS. The part of me that would never accept leaving the TARDIS took control. A part that didn't care about my health, a part that just wanted to stay and be happy traveling with the Doctor. And I knew there was only one choice for me, on my terms, and I made my resolve. "No, I'm not leaving. You're like my best friend and brother at the same time." I took a step back. "No, I'm not leaving." I felt the Doctor place his hand around my shoulders. It was comforting for a moment.
"Always so stubborn in your convictions. That's what I love about you. Along with countless other things, of course." I smiled, but still couldn't bring myself to turn around. Deep down I knew that I couldn't and the Doctor's arm wouldn't allow for it. "Which makes this so hard." His arm tensed around me. "I'm so sorry." I heard his voice crack as he pushed and I stumbled forward into the park.
Immediately I turned back towards the TARDIS as the door slammed and locked. The engines sounded out, echoing in the empty park. I pounded on the door, calling for the Doctor to let me in. Though the TARDIS disappeared all the same. As soon as the last traces of the police box vanished, I slumped to the ground, sobs wracking my body. I felt Dorian standing behind me, unsure of whether to comfort me or stand back. I stood and pulled myself into his arms, crying for hours, forgotten in the park.
One day, the girl got sick. In order to save her life, the Doctor left the girl alone, back where he had found her. She didn't want to leave, but the Doctor made her. He wouldn't risk her life, no matter how it pained him.
She knew that the Doctor would be alone, and that was the last thing the girl wanted for her friend. The girl had the man who had chased her across time, but the Doctor only had his magnificent TARDIS. The Doctor left her, though, and flew off to continue his adventures. She didn't know if it was the last time she would see him, she hoped not.
But she had to begin a new adventure just the same.