Here's the next chapter! :) Hope y'all like it! And I hope it answers some questions. This is the end of the "first arc/first season" if you want to get technical, but since everyone wants me to keep posting it on this story, I'll continue on to season two right here as well! :)
Just a heads up, like the last chapter, this one jumps forward a bit. It has moments where time skips ahead. I did this because no one wanted to read every little thing that happens to them. That would get boring. :)
Chapter 13: New Horizons
"You're what?" the Doctor asked, eyes wide. Freya glanced back up at him, feeling quite miserable.
"Whose is it?" the Doctor asked immediately, trying to think. Masen was the only male he knew in this time, and he didn't think Masen would do that. Then again, he really didn't know Masen.
"What do you mean?" Freya asked, completely puzzled by his response.
"Who's the father?" the Doctor reiterated, staring intently at her.
"You," Freya told him instantly.
His reaction worried her more than anything.
His face paled drastically at her words and he stumbled back, colliding with the wall.
"But that isn't possible. It isn't possible for a human to get pregnant from me. It shouldn't be possible. Slightly different reproductive systems. Unless….no. The London Blitz. The nanogenes. They came at you. The charm mixed with them….and it seemed to be absorbed around your stomach region. Oh Rassilon…the TARDIS changed you to make you compatible," the Doctor gasped, staring wide-eyed at her.
"What do you mean, changed?" Freya asked, feeling even more horrified.
"I mean changed. As in, I hope you didn't go to a doctor about it," the Doctor said. Freya shook her head, eyes still wide.
"What's different? What….what won't be the same?" Freya managed to ask. The Doctor shook his head slowly.
"If…if you don't miscarry, which is a possibility, it'll be a long pregnancy. Especially given the fact that your body is human. It…it could take up to three years," the Doctor explained.
"Three years?" Freya repeated, staring at him.
"Possibly longer," the Doctor amended, looking quite confused as he puzzled over it.
"I wish the TARDIS was still alive. We need her. We need to find out what to do. There's so much that can go wrong. So much preparation for you to be able to have the…wait. Those aliens…they said you could bring back the Time Lords," the Doctor said, staring at her. Freya's hand automatically drifted to her stomach.
"Are you saying I'm going to have a baby you?" Freya asked. The Doctor's face broke out into a wide grin.
"A baby me. That's a great way to put it. But yeah. It's probably gonna be a little Time Brat," the Doctor informed her.
"Time Brat?" Freya repeated, her nose automatically wrinkling up. She didn't want to think of her child as any sort of brat. The Doctor nodded, nonplussed.
"I don't know if it's a girl or boy, so Time Brat covers both. But…how did we not notice it before now?" the Doctor asked her, tugging on his ear awkwardly.
"We haven't really spent time thinking about it," Freya reminded him.
"And this is the first conversation we've had in ages," the Doctor added, looking quite forlorn at that fact.
He glanced up and a smile filled his face once more.
"Well, the wine's out. But I guess we now have something to celebrate! A baby! I never would have thought I'd end up with a baby," the Doctor stated in an almost awed state.
And then his entire expression shifted.
"Some things need to change," he began, only for Freya's eyes to widen. The Doctor's own eyes mirrored hers.
"Don't get all alarmed on me!" he told her quickly, only for Freya to force a smile for him.
"We...well, I've been a proper arse. And I'm gonna make it up to you. Especially now. I shouldn't have been wasting my time with you. Time's precious. Even more so now, I guess," the Doctor mused. He glanced up, obviously having gotten distracted once more.
"I saw your room. That's not a room. Too small. Move into my room with me. It's large enough," the Doctor told her. When Freya's eyes got even wider, he tried backtracking.
"I mean, if it makes you uncomfortable to share a room with me, we can just switch. But you need more space. You'll need more space. And you sleep more anyway. Need more sleep. And you'll probably need more sleep now than before. Sleep's healthy for the baby. Almost necessary," the Doctor rambled.
"Sleep's necessary?" Freya asked, her eyes wide in horror. The Doctor stared at her for a moment, not liking her reaction.
And that's when he noticed the makeup she was wearing.
He leaned closer and carefully wiped the makeup under her eyes away, revealing dark bags.
"When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?" the Doctor asked her in alarm. Her eyes hit the ground so fast he almost thought she'd passed out on him.
"I haven't slept well since we crashed," Freya murmured.
"Was Marie right? Is it a contact thing? Is that what you need? Will you sleep better if I'm there?" the Doctor asked her. Freya bit her lip but didn't respond.
He took that as a yes.
"If that's the case, then we'll share the bed. Sleep's very important for the baby's health. And if that's what it takes, then that's what's going to happen," the Doctor said firmly. Freya nodded obediently at his words.
"You can't take any aspirin. It's lethal to us. So avoid aspirin. And pears," the Doctor added as a side note.
"Are you allergic to pears also?" Freya asked him in surprise. The Doctor's grin focused on her once more.
"Nah. They're just nasty. Don't want you getting the little bugger hooked on pears before he's out of the womb. Or she," the Doctor mused. The Doctor shook his head, staring at her for a moment.
"I want to check on how far along he is. Or she. Mentally. Can I?" the Doctor asked.
"How?" Freya asked cautiously. Everything he said seemed so foreign to her, more foreign than anything before had been. The Doctor made his way to the chair Freya was sitting in and knelt in front of her. One of his hands tentatively placed itself low on her still-flat stomach and the other to the side of her head, two of his fingers pressed firmly against her temple.
"I'm going to go inside your mind. I won't dig. I'm just looking for the baby's presence. You probably haven't noticed it yet, if he's there already. It'll be tiny. It'll get stronger over time," the Doctor murmured.
"You mean my baby'll be able to read my thoughts?" Freya asked with wide eyes. The Doctor shook his head.
"No. He or she might, a little bit, near the end. It'll more or less be listening for you, for the sound of your thoughts. It's about having a constant voice in your head. You may not be able to notice it at all the whole pregnancy, since you don't have the telepathic tendencies my people have," the Doctor explained.
"Can I?" he asked, staring at her. His blue eyes were impossibly clear as he waited for her answer.
"I thought you were," Freya restated in confusion. Wasn't that the point of what he was doing? He shook his head, the smile still on his face.
"I wouldn't do it without having your full permission. It's a bit invasive. I don't want you to think I'm forcing myself into your mind," the Doctor told her. Freya shook her head, staring at him.
"Go ahead," Freya murmured.
The feeling was almost instant. It was the warmest, fullest feeling she'd ever felt. She could feel his presence inside her, inside her head. And she could hear his thoughts as he searched and sifted for a tiny voice, a tiny murmured. Intrigued, Freya urged her mind to try keeping up with his, managing to stay near where he was going.
And then she felt it.
She wasn't sure if she was supposed to feel it, but she did. It was probably just the Doctor's presence in her mind that made her able to feel it, but in that moment, she could feel the essence, the mind of her child.
It was like a tiny, delicate flame flickering in the back of her mind. Freya's hand automatically covered the Doctor's hand on her stomach, amazed at the wonderful feeling.
"That's our baby?" Freya asked in awe.
"Yeah. That's our baby," the Doctor choked. Freya opened her eyes staring straight into the Doctor's eyes. He had tears forming in the corner of his eyes as he stared at her. Tears of joy.
With his hands still in place and his presence still very much present in her mind, he leaned forward.
And he kissed her.
The feeling was like an explosion of sensations all at once. It was a massive high, a wondrous feeling. Because not only could she feel her own joy at the feeling, but she could feel the Doctor's joy at it as well. And there, in the back of her mind, she could feel the baby's joy at the sheer amount of happiness that was coursing through them.
The Doctor pulled back, both physically and mentally, smile still stuck to his face.
"It's getting kind of late. You could use a good night's sleep. In the morning, I'll go to the TARDIS and pull out some books on Gallifreyan pregnancies. See if I can find any information on what to do," the Doctor told her.
And her expression shifted at his words.
If the TARDIS was still working, she'd have information for them. She'd tell them what they could and couldn't do, what the projected birth date would be, everything. Freya knew she'd be able to. But she couldn't. Because she was dead.
The Doctor noticed Freya's distinctive turn of mood at his words and he frowned as well, going over his words. What had he said? Then it struck him.
She blamed herself for the TARDIS dying.
"Freya…before we go to bed, we need to talk about what happened back at the Game Station," the Doctor told her carefully, watching her for a reaction. He wasn't disappointed. Sheer panic crossed her face and regret seemed to have etched lines into her skin.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize the TARDIS would die. If I had, I wouldn't have given the vortex up," Freya apologized quickly, feeling her emotions shift out of balance. The sudden mood change threw her and she tried focusing it, but it didn't seem to help.
"That's the problem. It wasn't your fault," the Doctor corrected her quickly. Freya's wide eyes fell on him in disbelief.
"But she died after I put the vortex back!" Freya protested. The Doctor nodded.
"She did. But you know what would have happen if you hadn't?" the Doctor asked her. Freya shook her head carefully.
"I would have taken it out of you. And it would have killed me," the Doctor told her. Freya bit back the gasp that threatened to escape her lips. That's what the book had said would happen. If she didn't give it up in time, he would die.
"But why didn't the book warn me that the TARDIS would die? It…it said you would die if I held it in too long, and I could die too. But it never warned me about the TARDIS," Freya nearly sobbed. The Doctor's arms pulled her close to him.
"Hey, it's alright. Everything's alright. You're alive, and I'm alive. And we're going to have a baby. Things are going to be fantastic. And one day we'll figure out how to fix the TARDIS. Until then, let's go to sleep," the Doctor told her. He stood carefully, pulling her to her feet as he did. The two of them made their way to the bedroom, Freya feeling even more exhausted with each step.
The two of them collapsed into the bed, not even bothering to change into pajamas.
And Freya got her first full night of sleep since the death of the TARDIS.
After that, things seemed to smooth out. Freya woke up every morning to the Doctor attempting (and failing quite miserably) to make her something healthy for breakfast before simply giving up and pulling out the bananas. Freya would go on a walk and then spend time with Marie. Sometimes Donna would meet up with her and the two of them would spend time together. Even rarer were the times River showed up in the middle of Freya's walk and took her on an adventure where they would run through a field or two, just to keep Freya (safely, according to River) in shape.
Her and the Doctor would then eat lunch together and spend the afternoon together. Freya never asked him what he did in the mornings, but she assumed he tinkered. But the afternoons were theirs. He simply adored reading to her – to them. Half the time, Freya was certain he was directing his words straight to her stomach – especially when he started going on about incredibly intelligent things she didn't even dare trying to keep up with.
Some evenings, when she felt downright restless, she urged him to take a run with her. His runs were never as much fun as River's runs were. River would push her just hard enough, while the Doctor seemed terrified to do more than a slow jog with her. Freya assumed it was because he was scared of a miscarriage, but as the weeks slid by, the less she worried about it.
As they approached the two month mark of being stranded there, Freya couldn't help but realize that she was completely and truly happy.
The Doctor was going crazy.
He knew he shouldn't be. Freya was enjoying herself. In fact, Freya seemed to adore the life they were currently leading. But he couldn't keep still.
He was grateful for her morning walks and social times. It gave him the chance to burn off energy and attempt to do his work without letting on how stir crazy he was. But he had exhausted every option. He had no other idea what to do that would revive the TARDIS. He'd never heard of such a thing happening before. And he knew there was no way he could get a new one. TARDISes were grown, not made. And the only place he'd be able to grow a new TARDIS outside of his home planet would be aboard a living TARDIS.
Which brought him back to square one.
But he had another worry that continuously flitted into his mind. One that worried him more than he dared admit it.
If he did end up finding a way to fix the TARDIS, would Freya still want to come with him, or would she choose to stay on Earth and continue with life on the slow path?
The more he thought about it, the more terrified he grew of the answer.
Freya was on a run with River when it happened.
It had been a week since she'd last run, and Freya felt more out of shape than she had in her entire life. Her feet were harder to move and although she had gotten plenty of sleep, she felt downright exhausted.
In between urging, River had been telling her that Mickey was coming to visit her that day. Mickey and his wife. Freya had asked about Rose, but River had only said spoilers in response.
River was in the middle of her encouragement when Freya tripped.
Her foot hand landed in some sort of indent in the ground and the next thing she knew, her ankle had twisted and she was falling towards the ground. She barely had the time to turn so she fell onto her side instead on her stomach.
Her arms instantly curled around her stomach, pleading, praying that she hadn't done something stupid, that she hadn't caused a miscarriage. River was at her side instantly, helping her up.
"Come on. Let's get you to the TARDIS med-bay," River murmured, helping Freya to her feet. Freya tried putting weight on her ankle but couldn't. She bit back a cry at the pain that shot through her. River moved in front of Freya and bent over slightly.
"Jump on my back," River urged her and, painstakingly, Freya did so.
River was moving just as fast as the Doctor had been the last time she'd had a piggy-back ride. Actually, River was probably moving faster. She didn't even unlock the TARDIS, instead choosing to snap her fingers and the doors opened. River didn't stop running until she'd deposited Freya onto one of the beds in the med-bay.
She had a cell phone whipped out before Freya could even open her mouth.
"Yeah, can you guys hurry up and get here? We're in the TARDIS. I have to leave. I have to leave before he gets back. Go straight to the med-bay. She fell while running with me and twisted her ankle. I need you to make sure the baby's fine," River said before hanging up.
"I'm gonna have to go. The moment the Doctor finds out what happened, there'll be hell to pay. Tell him your friend Mel took you on a run. Don't tell him River. He can't know me yet. You'll….you'll be fine, beautiful," River told her before gently kissing Freya on the forehead.
"Why do you call me that?" Freya asked her. River shook her head, a small smile on her lips. Freya could see her lips forming the word spoilers, but she stopped. She stopped and stared at Freya for a moment.
"Because I decided long ago that you deserved to have someone telling you how beautiful you are every day. And well, we both know how clueless the Doctor is. So I started," River told her with a smile.
"I really have to go," River told her and Freya nodded.
River disappeared, leaving Freya alone inside the dim, dead TARDIS.
Freya, for a solid minute, didn't dare move. When, after a minute, no pain outside of her ankle seemed to happen, she tentatively started pressing her fingers against the side of her stomach and around to the front. Nothing seemed to hurt.
Then again, she had no idea how it was supposed to feel.
She carefully pulled herself into sitting position, stretching slowly towards her ankle. She was able to untie the shoe on her left ankle, her twisted ankle, but it was already so swollen that she couldn't ease it off. And she didn't dare double over too much and risk unsettling the baby.
She had only managed to get her right shoe off when two people burst in the door.
One of which, she assumed, was Mickey.
"Freya! What are you doing?" Mickey barked, moving to her side. He instantly straightened her so that she was lying down on the bed once more and glanced over at the other woman in the room. Freya was certain she'd never met her before.
So this was Mickey's wife.
Freya wasn't too comfortable with that. Where was Rose? Who was Rose with now? What had gone wrong between Rose and Mickey?
"You did a real number on yourself. Any cramps? Bleeding?" the woman asked her professionally as she gently tugged the left shoe off of her foot. Freya couldn't hold back the wince at the feeling.
"Who are you?" Freya asked her, instantly wishing she could take her words back. That was a really rude thing to say. She hated being rude. Being rude always got her into trouble.
"Oh. You…you're from the past, yeah. My name's Martha. Martha Smith. We met a few years back," Martha tried explaining. Freya gave her a weak smile.
"Back to the baby," Mickey urged, glancing towards the door.
"Right. Back to the baby! Any pains?" Martha asked. Freya shook her head nervously. Martha wasn't deterred by her. She instead rushed for some equipment, pulling out a tiny device from a drawer. She sighed and shook her head as she pulled a few more things out.
"You can tell he hasn't used this stuff much. How far along are you right now? You've got to be near the beginning," Martha observed as she came closer.
"I think I'm about three months," Freya admitted nervously. Martha nodded.
"Very early on then. Right. Let's have a look," Martha said with a bright smile. She tugged Freya's shirt up, revealing her stomach. Freya could see a small bump starting to form, but it was barely noticeable. It looked as if she were just gaining a bit of weight.
Healthy weight, the Doctor had reassured her the one and only time he'd noticed her glancing suspiciously in a mirror.
Martha placed the device to Freya's stomach and her eyes lit up.
"Looks good. Give me a moment and I'll get a mini screen pulled up for you," Martha told her as she moved towards a larger, mobile machine. She pulled the thing over and pressed a few buttons before pressing the small device back to Freya's stomach. Mickey smiled reassuringly at her and turned the screen to face her.
On the screen was a tiny little…shape. It didn't look overtly human, but it was obviously something.
"That's the head right there. He's curled up right now. Stubborn little bugger," Martha muttered, pointing to the screen. With Martha's urging, Freya could sort of see the basic shape of the baby.
"It's a he?" Freya asked. Martha shot a look of slight panic at Mickey.
Oh. They weren't supposed to tell her that yet.
Before Martha could say anything, there was a loud crash in the hallway. Footsteps pounded and the Doctor appeared in the doorway, looking alarmed and out of breath. When he saw Freya on the bed, he surged forward, ignoring everyone else.
"Are you okay? What happened? I was coming to tinker and the door was open," the Doctor said quickly. Freya gave him a reassuring smile and patted his hand. His hand that had instantly gripped her shoulder.
He took her smile and gave her one in return before turning some of his attention to Martha and Mickey. Martha was staring at him as if she hadn't seen him before.
"Mickey? Is that you?" the Doctor asked in disbelief. A grin erupted on Mickey's face.
"Not much of an idiot now, am I?" he asked the Doctor with a smug grin.
"I'd say so. Oi! Who're you?" the Doctor then asked Martha, not recognizing her. Martha glanced at Mickey, who nodded encouraging.
"I'm Martha. Mickey's wife. We meet at one point. You take me on a trip," Martha said, twisting her wedding ring. She glanced at Mickey and Freya sensed there was more to her story than what she said.
But it was probably for the best. They were already learning way too much about the future.
"But why are you here? In my TARDIS? What happened? Oh…" the Doctor caught sight of the image of the baby on the screen and all of his words just left him. Freya was certain she'd never seen him that speechless before, and she doubted she'd see him that way again.
One of his hands caught hers and squeezed it tightly.
"That's our baby?" the Doctor asked, his voice nearly choked. Martha nodded, an almost reminiscent smile on her lips.
"Yup. That's your baby. We were making sure he was okay," Martha explained.
"So you can already tell the sex?" the Doctor asked her sharply. Martha nodded effortlessly.
She was lying.
"Why were you making sure he was okay? What happened? And how are you qualified to check? It's not a normal baby," the Doctor scoffed at her. Martha gave him a sharp glare and shook his head.
"You're exceptionally rude. More so than the last time I had to put up with you. I'm a doctor. And before you say anything else, I know exactly what to do about this baby. In your future, I'm the person that does most of the checkups. I end up practically delivering the baby," Martha explained. Mickey nudged her sharply.
"Yeah. Spoilers," Martha finally muttered.
"You didn't answer my question. Why was a checkup needed?" the Doctor asked, glancing between Freya and Mickey and Martha.
"My friend Mel took me on a run. She's trying to help me stay in shape. I fell," Freya finally said.
"You went running?" the Doctor asked her in disbelief.
"I had to. I can't get out of shape. If I'm not able to run, how will I keep up with you when you get the TARDIS working?" Freya demanded of him.
"You won't have to run. We won't go anywhere that makes you have to run," the Doctor promised. He got a scoff from both Mickey and Martha.
"Doctor, everywhere you go you have to run. And it's good for her to stay in shape. As long as she doesn't overexert herself, it's even good for the baby," Martha argued. The Doctor stared at her, more or less giving her his glare.
"She's just helping," Freya tried distracting the Doctor. He tore his eyes from Martha, only to glare at Freya.
"Your ankle!" he exclaimed, eyes narrowing on her swollen ankle.
"I'll wrap it up," Martha offered, turning away quickly to do just that.
"Don't go running again," the Doctor said immediately. Mickey's eyebrows shot up and his eyes darted between the Doctor and Freya.
"Why?" Freya asked him, biting her lip as she questioned him. His eyes hardened and Freya winced away from him automatically.
His expression softened slightly at her reaction but he still seemed firm.
"I don't want you getting hurt again," the Doctor clarified.
"But I need to stay in shape," Freya protested weakly. The Doctor shook his head.
"We'll just go on more walks. I'll take you on longer walks, if that's what you want to do. Just…don't run anymore. Not with anyone else. Maybe we'll sprint…if you want to," the Doctor tried reasoning. Freya nodded to his words.
"You agree to him way too easily," Martha stated, looking almost frustrated. Freya and the Doctor glanced at her, startled by her words.
"Babe, that's how she was. Give her time," Mickey told her in a soothing voice. Martha just shook her head, but she tried to plaster a smile to her face.
"Right. Well, we were supposed to come and spend time with you today, but I guess this counts as time. And given what's going on, I'd say it's probably time for us to go," Martha suggested. Freya quickly swung her legs off the bed, drawing everyone to her as she did.
"Don't put weight on it yet!" Martha lectured instantly, only for Freya to smile sheepishly.
"I just wanted to say bye. You were leaving so quickly," Freya admitted guiltily. Martha laughed and captured the girl into a tight hug.
"You never change," Martha told her with a wide smile before pulling away. She glanced at the Doctor and shook her head.
"And you change so much," Martha murmured before Mickey laced his fingers with hers and, after a half wave to the two of them, Mickey and Martha were gone.
After that, if possible, the Doctor and Freya grew even closer together than before. River hadn't visited again, and Freya had only gone out to see Donna once. Marie and Masen left for a vacation, taking the children with them.
Freya positively adored the time she spent with the Doctor, but she wasn't a fool. She could see how he spent less and less time in the TARDIS each day, and it wasn't just so he could spend time with her.
He'd given up on fixing the TARDIS.
It was late one night, after she'd come to that realization, when they finished the novel they'd currently been reading.
They had been reading on that novel for the shortest amount of time for a novel, only a few days, but they'd finished before they'd expected to.
"I can go pick out another from the library," Freya offered. The Doctor looked quite comfortable on the couch next to her, and she was needing to get up for a moment.
"Do you want to?" the Doctor asked her carefully, and Freya nodded eagerly.
She also needed to use the loo, but didn't want to tell the Doctor that. It didn't matter how comfortable around him she was, she still wasn't about to tell him that.
So she'd headed to the TARDIS, used the bathroom, and stumbled into the library.
Only to find River there, sitting on the couch next to the pool, already reading a book.
Not just any book. The future book. Freya's future book.
When River saw her, she closed the book, but her expression held no guilt.
"Have you checked the book out since you landed?" River asked Freya. Freya shook her head. She hadn't thought of it. The Doctor had glanced over it, but she hadn't. She hadn't thought she needed to.
River wordlessly opened the book and handed it to her.
And Freya's eyes widened.
"It's time I said goodbye. I'll see you again. It'll be awhile – a long while for you, and I look forward to meeting the bugger when he's out. As far as I know, you have a few years before you'll see me again. Unless older me sees you before that. Who knows? But it was nice getting to spend time with you," River told her with a bittersweet smile. She pulled Freya into a tight hug before pressing a button on her wrist and vanishing.
She glanced back down at the page, unbelieving.
It told her how she could fix the TARDIS.
She turned on her heel and stumbled as fast as her healing ankle could go to the console room.
There, she followed the instructions, flipping and changing switches, pulling levers, everything until they matched the image given.
And that was when she noticed the warning.
PLEASE READ BEFORE DOING: This is vital. You have to know this. Reviving the TARDIS is going to cost you something – more than one something. Somethings that are precious. Remember how the Nyonx said you could peacefully live up to 120 years with no interferences?
You won't.
The TARDIS knows how long you have. You have to give her your life force. Not all of it – just what you won't need. It'll be terrifying. You'll know how much longer you have to live at the maximum. And it won't be as long as you'll wish. You can't tell the Doctor that. He'll think you were just giving it as much as it would take. But you aren't. You'll give the TARDIS the equivalent of eighty years of your life.
The presence of the baby will help. It won't harm the baby, but the baby's energy is mixing with yours. The baby's energy is what will convert your life span into energy the TARDIS can absorb. To do it, you need to open the heart of the TARDIS again. It'll surround you, enter you, start eating away at your life. Once you feel you have lost eighty years, you have to give it up. Let it go.
It's important you remember that.
And it's not your fault.
-F
The words worried Freya. What wasn't her fault? Was there something more to this that she didn't know? Was something bad going to happen because she followed the instructions, as it had with the last time she'd read the book?
She was terrified of the thought. But she had to. The Doctor wouldn't admit it, but he was going stir-crazy. He had to get out of there. Back into time and space. And if she could do something about it, she had to.
She closed the book firmly and left it on the seat before moving to open up the heart of the TARDIS once more.
Freya was taking an awful long time to pick out a book.
That was the Doctor's first thought. He knew she probably had to use the loo – she did a lot, with the baby pressing on her bladder – but she should have been back already. She'd picked three books before they'd started reading the book they'd just finished. So she only had two books she would have to choose between.
What if something happened?
The words were like a bucket of cold water dousing him. He shot to his feet, not even bothering to tug on his shoes as he raced for the TARDIS. What if she'd fallen? What if she had a miscarriage and there was no one there to help her?
As he approached the TARDIS, his worries grew.
The TARDIS was almost humming.
He grabbed the door and tried pushing it open, but it wouldn't open. It was locking him out. He dug around in his pocket frantically, searching for his key. He hadn't had to use his key in weeks. He'd left the door unlocked, and with the TARDIS being dead, she didn't relock herself. A part of him wanted to be thrilled. The TARDIS was starting to work. But he knew better. The TARDIS wouldn't come back to life for no reason.
Something had to be happening to Freya.
Even when he was able to get the key into the lock, the TARDIS seemed reluctant to open. As if she was fully alive again instead of just a box. But she shouldn't be.
The door finally spun open and the Doctor leapt inside, only for his hearts to stutter.
Freya was surrounded by the heart of the TARDIS. She was hunched over on the ground next to the console. The particles, which should have been dead, were swirling around her, off of her charm bracelet, and literally seeping from her skin.
The Doctor took a step closer and stopped breathing.
It wasn't the heart of the TARDIS coming out of her. It was her life. She was giving up her life to fix the TARDIS. That shouldn't work. But the energy was multiplying in the air and swirling around her. Her bracelet finished dissolving and meshed with the gold particles, swirling into the console.
And the TARDIS lit up.
But it wasn't done. The connection was still there, between Freya and the heart. It was still taking the particles from her, her life span from her, and it was feeding itself into her.
It was converting her energy into the energy it needed. And it wasn't stopping.
The Doctor threw himself forward, falling into her on the ground as he gripped her shoulders. She looked terrified but almost resigned.
"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked her in horror. She opened her mouth but closed it as more of her life energy flew from it. He quickly searched her timeline, seeing how much was being taken.
She had forty years of her life left.
It had taken eighty years.
He had to get it to stop. It had to focus on something else. The TARDIS couldn't be responsible for trying to kill her. It had to be an automatic response if the TARDIS was brought back but still very weak.
What if he could focus it on him? He could give it however many years this body could have before giving out. That ought to be plenty.
He gripped Freya shoulders tightly and pulled her to him, kissing her desperately. Just as he would have done back on Satellite Five had she not been able to get rid of the particles on her own, he sucked the heart of the TARDIS, the vortex, from her. And into him.
The pain was excruciating. And terrifying. He threw himself back from Freya and leaned over the TARDIS, pushing it all out.
Including the potential years remaining in that body.
As he did, he dimly heard the doors close to the TARDIS and the tell-tale sound of it taking off. He kept two minutes of this body's life. Two minutes was all he needed. Hopefully.
And that was all he could afford to keep.
It vacated him and he straightened, but he could already see the gold lacing through his veins. His eyes sought out a panicked Freya.
"I'm so sorry. I was trying to help," Freya apologized, her eyes filling with tears. The Doctor shook his head, forcing a smile as his body tried convulsing.
"You helped. You helped more than you could imagine. You saved the TARDIS," the Doctor told her earnestly.
"But it did something to you. What did it do? What's happening?" Freya asked him anxiously.
"I've got this trick. When I'm about to die, I can save myself. But it means I'm going to have to change. Every cell in my body's going to die and be replaced," the Doctor told her. His words did not reassure her as he'd hoped they would.
"I killed you?" Freya gasped, the tears in her eyes leaking down her face. The Doctor shook his head violently, wanting more than anything to give her a hug and reassure her that she had not killed him. But his time was drawing close, too close. He couldn't afford her getting hurt by being too close when he regenerated.
"No. You didn't. I…I don't have much time. Not with this daft face, anyway. I may not have a face. I may have two faces! Can you imagine me with two faces?" the Doctor asked her with a smile, hoping to get a laugh out of her. She let out a tiny laugh, but the tears were still streaming from her eyes.
"Imagine the conversations. I'd never be able to speak," Freya choked out. The Doctor shook his head, glad that his last sight of her was going to be of her laughing. Even if she was crying, she was laughing.
And that's all he wanted.
"Freya…you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I should have told you more. You were brilliantly fantastic. And you know what? So was I," he told her before stumbling farther back and succumbing to the regeneration energy.
He exploded.
He exploded into a gold light right in front of her.
Freya's mind shut down at the image. She'd killed him. What he was saying, it hadn't made sense. He was trying to make her feel better. But it was too late. She'd killed the only person that ever truly cared about her.
Freya's vision blurred with tears and she curled herself up on the floor of the TARDIS, not daring to look at what would be left of the Doctor's clothes. She couldn't bear to see it.
Marie and Masen must've been lying. They couldn't have seen the Doctor again. Martha couldn't have met him either. Because he was dead.
She'd killed him.
A hand touched her shoulder and Freya jumped. No one was in the TARDIS, unless River had come back. Freya lifted her head, only to panic.
It wasn't River.
It was some strange man. She'd never…wait.
She had seen him before.
He was the man who'd given her the locket at the hospital when she was younger.
And he was wearing the Doctor's clothes.
"Who are you?" Freya asked, her voice quivering. The man's expression dropped at her words.
"Freya, I'm the Doctor," he told her, but Freya shook her head.
"You're not the Doctor. I killed the Doctor. Why are you wearing his clothes?" Freya asked suddenly, horrified at the realization. The man was wearing what the Doctor had been wearing when he'd died.
"No no, I'm not wearing his clothes, I'm him!" the man said cheerfully. Freya scooted farther away from him.
His entire expression shattered at her movement.
He moved to the console and started pulling levers frantically.
And the TARDIS was off.
Well, I considered adding more to this section but it fit better at the beginning of the next chapter. The next chapter is in two parts and is the Christmas Invasion! What do you think? Was that considered a decent way to have things go? I was experimenting, trying to find the best way to make it work and get the timelines just right.
What do you all think? Leave me some reviews! I would love to hear from you, hear your questions, your thoughts, what you liked (and disliked if you did...i hope you didn't!). Remember, the more reviews the faster I'm more likely to update. I'm currently writing on the beginning of chapter 16. You guys are catching up with me!
Andi