Chapter Forty-Three (Ditzy`s Point of View)
I held a sobbing Dinky to my chest and covered her vision from the Doctor. She fought against my grasp but I kept her still against her will although it hurt me to.
He explained this regenerating process to me before. All of the cells in his body multiply, divide, disappear... they rearrange themselves to form a new being. He said, in his own words, "it still feels like I`m dying. It starts and some new man saunters away.
I watched as the Doctor`s entire body was engulfed in this yellow glittering mist, and he screamed out. Fire spread and was flung everywhere and just nearly missed us. He fell to the ground with a thud and the mist disappeared completely. I rushed over him, tears streaming down my face still. He wasn`t moving at all and his back was to us as he lay on his side.
"Doctor, Doctor, please, come on!" I said, shaking his body.
"Daddy... Daddy, please, PLEASE don`t go!" Dinky sobbed, running over to him. "Mommy, please, please don`t tell me he-"
The Doctor began breathing heavily again and I weakly smiled.
"Doctor...? Oh, thank God," I cried, wrapping my arms around him.
He forced a laugh. "How do I look?"
"Actually, you-"
"Am I ginger?"
I giggled at his question. "No, you`re... you`re exactly the same," I said.
"How is that possible?" he asked distantly.
"Hey, you`re the Time Lord, the one that regenerates... I`m just along for the ride," I smiled.
Dinky walked over to us and frowned. "Daddy, are you alright?"
The Doctor`s eyes widened and we both shared the same confused expression. "What?" he asked.
"What did you call him...?"
"I said, 'Daddy, are you alright?'"
"What?" he asked again.
Her smile was vibrant and she hugged him so tightly he couldn`t breathe. "Why did you say I`m your dad?" he asked.
"You`re the closest person I have that I can see as a father," she shrugged.
The Doctor`s grin grew wider and he started laughing to himself, and for a second I thought I saw a tear in his eye.
"Well, now we are in a bit of a problem," the Doctor frowned, studying the TARDIS.
"You didn`t even say how this happened," I laughed hysterically.
"A Soul Seeker came and had a lighter," he said matter-of-factly.
"Well, what`s a Soul Seeker?" Dinky asked.
"They can change forms, so how they look, but touching someone, and she... tricked me."
"Wait, tricked you?!" Dinky gasped exasperatedly.
"She touched you, Ditzy. She became a clone of you, and then... kissed me, and now there`s a second me walking around."
My eyes widened.
"Before you ask, no, I didn`t kiss her back!"
"Okay, good, but that still doesn`t ease my worries. How do I know the real you," I asked. He got up from his crouching position in front of the TARDIS and pocketed his sonic screwdriver.
He frowned and pursed his lips, stepping closer until he was a centimeter away. "There is always one way to tell your boyfriend from someone else."
Dinky giggled, but when I turned to look at her, the Doctor cradled my head in his hands and pulled me into a long, deep, passionate kiss that left me dazed.
He pulled away sweetly and smiled at me, a blush forming on his cheeks. "That`s how."
I smiled shyly back at him and finally looked back at Dinky, whose face was flushed and her hand was covering her mouth.
"Okay, I`ll believe you now," she laughed nervously.
The doctor chuckled at her expression. "So, now the question of the hour is 'how do we all get home?'"
"Won`t the TARDIS be repaired?" Dinky asked.
"Well, sort of. I need to use the TARDIS to get it repaired, and that might not happen. But I do have my sonic screwdriver, and although it doesn`t do wood, I might be able to rewire the power and get us there."
"Is the TARDIS even going to let us inside?" I laughed, knocking on the charred wood.
"Well-" the doors opened, stopping him midsentence, "-okay, well, watch where you step!"
We walked as a group into the ashy TARDIS and groaned at the mess. Charred wood and the smell of smoke still filtered throughout the room, staying thick no matter what you`d do.
"Well, this`ll be easy," he laughed, tossing his screwdriver in the air and catching it with one hand. "I think I should get to work."
"What about us?" I asked.
"Oh, right," he exhaled like he had forgotten. "How about this – give me literally five seconds." The sonic screwdriver buzzed and pulsed in a high frequency, bolts of electricity zapping outwards every few seconds. He cheered out in victory with a fist in the air. "Got it," he laughed again. "Now, the ride may be too dangerous, thus being why I said 'give me literally five seconds'. So, I`m sorry, but you should leave me to fly her here, and I`ll use the time traveling part to be back in five seconds. Wow, I said five seconds a lot..."
I nodded in agreement, holding Dinky`s hand and walking outside. She looked fearfully at me.
"What`s wrong?" I asked as the TARDIS began teleporting away in the midst of my talking.
"I don`t like this time travelling thing anymore," she frowned.
I returned her frown, looking around for some reason before crouching down in front of her. I placed my hands on her shoulders and she tried to hide a giggle. "Why not," I asked.
"I just... I don`t like it when people get hurt," she shrugged, looking away.
"Oh, my little muffin, it`s alright. See, I was like that too when I first started travelling with the Doctor. I still don`t like it, but it`s tolerable sometimes. And if you can`t find ways to make it tolerable, just ask the Doctor. He`s been alive for over 900 years, 900 years, can you believe that? Talk about experience," I said. I smiled at the familiar sound of her laugh.
"Is that what the Mayor meant, Mommy?" she gasped. "Like, about experience. She said that you don`t age appearance wise once you have enough experience."
I opened my eyes widely at her and literally, as he said, the Doctor came back, TARDIS and all. No chipping against the wood anymore towards the bottom of the frame, and it was actually blue this time and not the smoky black. The Doctor jumped out and leaned against the front.
"Talk about fast," I laughed. "How`s it look?"
"Come and see!" he smiled. The walls were curved and a yellowish beige, circles dotting the walls. Serving as a floor for the control panel laid glass, and there were more (as the Doctor called them) "toys" to fly the TARDIS this time around. "It`s a beauty, aint it?"
I laughed, adding a slight nod. Dinky held his hand and a smile broke out on her face. "What can we do now?"
"I say we leave." He looked between us, frowning, "right now."
Dinky and I gasped. "But, Doctor, we could save so many people!"
I rushed up to him as soon as he shut the TARDIS doors; grabbing his face in my hands and making him stare at me. We looked into each other's eyes and I became hypnotized by his. I was trying to read his eyes, the same ones I have known, not the stone cold ones that stared back into mine. But in a flash they turned soft.
Of course, he was still the Doctor. His eyes were so old and sincere like they had been when we confessed we liked each other. His eyes were so kind, compassionate, and welcoming.
"Ditzy...?" he asked, his lips into a pursed smile.
"Mommy, what are you doing?" I nodded again, still silent, and walked away.
"Okay, can we go now?" he laughed impatiently, like a small child. "Next stop, well... I think we all know."
"But I thought you said we were leaving?" Dinky asked.
"I lied. Rule number one, the Doctor always lies."