Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
A/N: Sorry this took so long; I've been feeling unmotivated lately. Also, if you saw it update but then couldn't find the chapter, I deleted it so I could add on a bit more at the end.
The Girl Who Died – Part Three
Ashildr stood in her dwelling, brandishing a wooden stave at a shadow cast by the light of a torch. "So, we meet again, Fake Odin" she glared at her 'opponent', "Valhalla burns around you, your army is destroyed and now it is time for you to die!"
With that, she stabbed at a wood and thatch replica of the fake Odin, the 'Mire General' as she'd overheard the Corsair call him. Her attack was victorious…of course, the model wasn't exactly giving her much of a fight. Someone cleared their throat behind her and she jumped, spinning around to see the Doctor standing in the doorway. "How long have you been standing there?" she demanded, embarrassed and defensive.
He didn't even seem to notice her discomfort, walking into the room blithely and pointing at the model. "What's that? Is that a puppet? Oh, I love puppets!"
Ashildr looked sheepish. "I make puppets sometimes, when I'm…"
"Frightened?" he guessed.
"When the raiding parties go out, I make up stories about their battles" she explained.
"Because if you make up the right story, then you think it will keep them safe and they'll all come home" the Doctor finished, "That's okay. You're not the first person to ever have done that".
"Why are you here?" she asked curiously. She really hoped it wasn't to rub in her face what a terrible mistake she'd made.
"I'm looking for something I'm missing. What do you think our chances are tomorrow?"
"We will be cut down like corn. By this time tomorrow, every single one of us will be dead" she replied solemnly.
"Yeah" he murmured, picking up a tome and briefly leafing through it, before setting it down and remarking, "You could go".
"There's nowhere for me except here. This is my place. The sky, the hills, the sea, the people… Is there nowhere like that for you?" she asked, "And your family?"
"Oh, we like a nice view as much as anyone" the Doctor shrugged.
"But…?"
"We can't wait for the next one".
"I pity you".
"I will mourn for you" he countered, "I know which I'd prefer".
"You think they're all idiots, don't you?"
"What, you mean the rest of the universe, with a few exceptions? Basically, yes, I do".
"But they're kind and brave, and strong, and I love them".
"Good, good, but that won't save you".
"I've always been different" Ashildr admitted with a sigh, "All my life I've known that. The girls all thought I was a boy. The boys all said I was just a girl. My head is always full of stories. I know I'm strange. Everyone knows I'm strange. But here I'm loved. You tell me to run to save my life. I tell you that leaving this place would be death itself" she declared firmly.
Einarr appeared in the open doorway and strode over to his daughter, ignoring the Doctor. He placed his hands on her shoulders and sadly told her, "I cannot keep you safe. I do not have the strength. But I will try to till the last beat of my heart". He pulled her into a tight embrace; the Doctor hovered awkwardly, not sure whether he should give them privacy or not. He could hear that baby girl crying again, and then the Corsair stepped into the room, pulling up short at the sight of the hugging father and daughter.
Einarr pulled away, his eyes just tinged with tears, and looked over at the two Time Lords with a suspicious frown. "If either of you seek to mock us in this moment…" he began warningly. The Corsair held his hands up in a pacifying, 'I surrender' gesture and the Doctor quickly shook his head.
"No. No. No, you go ahead and you cry all you like" he encouraged, "Speaking of crying, is that baby getting closer?" He went to the doorway to peek out; the Corsair stepped forward and looked at Ashildr.
"I just came to…to say sorry, for giving you such a hard time earlier" he told her, "I, uh, messed up myself recently and…well, the point is I shouldn't have taken it out on you. So…bygones?" he asked hopefully, holding out a hand to shake.
Ashildr glanced at her father, before reaching out and shaking the Corsair's hand, accepting his apology. From the doorway, the Doctor called "Why has Lofty stolen a baby?"
"It's his child" she explained, wondering why he'd assume the man had kidnapped a baby.
"Oh. Where's he taking her?"
"The boathouse" replied Ashildr, "He takes her to the boathouse when she won't settle. She likes the fish".
"Good for her" the Corsair murmured, before stepping around Ashildr and walking up to her puppet. "Did you make this?" he asked her, and she nodded.
"It's brilliant, isn't it?" the Doctor asked with a grin.
"Yeah, it's a pretty good likeness. Think you can whip up a few more of these?" he asked, half-jokingly, "Maybe we can trick the Mire into thinking there's more of us than there actually are".
"Would that fool them?" Einarr asked urgently.
The Corsair hesitated; he thought it was obvious he'd just been kidding. "I think they might be too smart for that" he pointed out, before considering, "Then again, they do have that virtual reality filter in their helmets…"
"What did you just say?" the Doctor demanded suddenly, rushing over and pushing past Einarr to stare at his fellow Time Lord.
"Uh, I said the Mire have virtual reality filters in their helmets. They use it for training simulations and the same images can be transmitted from one helmet to every other…oh. Oh!"
"Yes, oh!" the Doctor beamed, throwing his hands up, "Can we get one?"
In response, the Corsair began rummaging in his pockets. A thoroughly confused Ashildr inquired, "I don't understand, what is it?"
"I've found what I've been missing" the Doctor replied happily. Then the Corsair pulled something from his pocket with a triumphant grin; a metal disc. "What is that?" Einarr asked curiously.
"No time!" the Doctor insisted, "Corsair, you're a genius, and I don't say that about just anyone. Fill them in" he instructed, before rushing from the hut, shouting. "Romana, Emily! Clara!"
Ashildr and Einarr turned to the Corsair, silently demanding an explanation. He tossed the metal disc in his hands and simply told them, "This is our ticket to winning that battle, but we're going to need help. Who's the blacksmith?"
"It's Lof – I mean, Broderick" said Ashildr.
"The baby guy? Okay, Einarr, go to Lofty slash Broderick and tell him to meet the Doctor and I at the forge. Ashildr, those strange suits Clara and Flavia were wearing? Go and fetch it" he instructed. She nodded and ran off; Einarr hesitated, not sure if he believed these strangers had a plan. Yet what choice did he have but to trust them? He just hoped they wouldn't let him and his village down.
/
They all gathered at the forge, setting Broderick to work smelting and linking together chains of metal and horseshoes. They laid out Clara and Flavia's suits and with the help of a sharp knife, began to take them apart. "We need to pull out all the wiring, that stringy stuff, from the spacesuits" the Doctor explained, "We can use it to conduct an electric charge through the chains that Lofty here is making".
At the mention of electricity, the Vikings in the group stared at him in bewilderment. "Stop looking confused!" he admonished, "Look happy! Winning is all about looking happier than the other guy. Always walk briskly, makes you a moving target. And talk with confidence, even if you're terrified. Act as if you know their plan, and sometimes, if you're very lucky, they'll actually tell you it. Speaking of plans, Ashildr?"
"Yes?"
"This is it; this is your chance to make things right. To make a story that will blow the Mire's minds. You'll have to pull an all-nighter, are you up to that?"
"I'll do whatever it takes" Ashildr nodded resolutely, "But, uh, I'm not sure what you're asking me to do".
The Doctor grinned excitedly and told her, "I need you to make a monster".
/
As dawn approached, the villagers gathered and in the light of torches, the Doctor explained the plan. "…Then we deploy the anvil. Now, at this stage, getting one of their helmets is key. We get a helmet, and this is over. Then we can mop up the rest using Ashildr's monstrosity".
Ashildr pulled on a rope and a cloth was tugged aside to reveal…a less than impressive 'monster'.
"That is rubbish" Clara murmured to Emily, who shrugged.
"I think that's the point" she remarked.
/
The next day, Odin and his ten warriors teleported down from their spaceship and marched through the seemingly deserted village. They heard laughter coming from the meeting hall and marched in, bursting through the door…only to find the villagers playing horseshoe toss and dancing. Insulted by this ignorance of their might, the Mire marched further into the room; they didn't notice Broderick and the Corsair sneak up behind them and toss wired horseshoes onto the aerials sticking out of their armoured 'backpacks'.
A grinning Doctor twirled his wife and dipped her, and then noticed the Mire and their irritated leader. "Hey, hello, hi!" he greeted, wandering over, "I'm the Doctor, this is Romana. It's lovely to meet you face to, err, convincing hologram. You could always go 'zzz' and get rid of it, no? No, on second thoughts, don't. That, that, that suits you" he rambled.
Odin glared at what he believed to be a thin old man and a weak woman, and declared "It is time to fight".
"No, no, no" the Doctor shook his head, "We decided against that. We thought we'd just have a party!" The villagers cheered, shaking their fists in the air.
"Let me put it another way. You fight or you die".
"Where's your sense of honour?" Romana challenged him, "As I'm sure your scanners are telling you, everyone here is unarmed. Would you really want to engage in such an unfair battle?"
"It wouldn't be the first time" Odin sneered. He was about to order his warriors to attack, and cut them down; a horseshoe hit one Mire's armour with a clang, bringing the horseshoes and wires to their attention. The Mire's gaze followed the wires and metal chains up to the ceiling and the corners of the hall, where the wires and chains were wrapped around the cartwheel candelabras and the posts of the upper level.
The Doctor shouted, "Now, girls!"
Up on the mezzanine, at the two nearest corners, Clara and Emily touched wires together with gloved hands. Electricity zapped down the metal to the Mire, electrocuting them – and throwing the whole room into chaos. Romana and the Doctor quickly ushered the villagers away from the angered Mire, four of which had teleported back to the ship to escape the electricity. "Run, run, run-run-run-run!" the Doctor shouted urgently, before adding to Romana, "That's four down, six left".
"Let's hope it goes down further" she remarked.
"GO!" Odin roared, sending his Mire into battle; the tank like armoured aliens stomped forward with thundering steps, their armour clanking and weapons raised menacingly. The villagers ducked behind upturned tables, shrinking back from the threatening creatures; up on the balcony, Emily and Clara ducked as one of the Mire turned and fired up at them.
At the sight of his daughter being attacked, the Doctor yelled, "Magnet!" Up on the other side of the mezzanine, Flavia pulled a lever; a series of electrified chains revolved rapidly around a suspended barrel, forming a makeshift electromagnet. The now magnetised anvils rang with metallic thunks as the Mire's weapons were yanked out of their grasps and flew to the ceiling. Then their helmets were pulled off; Romana grimaced a bit at the sight of them, they were quite ugly aliens, with large eyes and needle sharp teeth like a deep sea angler fish.
"Turn it off!" she called up to Flavia; the Corsair had moved around to their side of the hall and helped the Doctor catch and carry one of the Mire's heavy helmets. Romana grabbed a fallen weapon, as did Clara when she, Emily and Flavia hurried down the ladder to the ground.
"Don't move!" warned Clara, aiming the weapon at the Mire, "Everybody out!"
The villagers wasted no time in running behind the Mire, who were preoccupied in trying to get to their weapons, and escaping through the door. The Corsair pulled out his blaster and sent a few shots at the Mire. "Come on, you freaks, have a real fight!" he taunted, covering the villagers escape. The Mire picked up their weapons and fired back, whilst the rest of the Time Quintet and Clara, hid in a side room. The Doctor took Romana's offered sonic, since they hadn't gotten around to fixing his glasses, and began fiddling with the inside of the helmet they'd nicked.
"How's it coming?" asked Clara anxiously, knowing that they didn't have much time even with the Corsair distracting them. Flavia was worried about the same thing…she wasn't worried for the Corsair, if he wanted to put himself in danger just to show off…buy them time or protect the villagers…well, that was all his problem…wasn't it?
"He's reversing the polarity of the neutron flow" Romana answered half-jokingly, just knowing that was what he would probably say.
The Doctor grinned at her briefly and commented, "I bet that means something, it sounds great. Ashildr!" he called, and the young woman sat down on a chair, wearing a nervous expression. "Are you ready?" he asked her, holding the Mire helmet.
"I'm scared" she admitted fearfully; Emily stepped forward and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"You'll be fine; just do what you do best" she smiled encouragingly. Ashildr managed a small smile back, just before the helmet slipped over her head. It was heavy, but she held it in place and let her imagination take over, watching what she was picturing come to life on the screen in curious fascination.
Outside in the main hall, the Mire and the Corsair were at a stand-off…when suddenly, the doors of the hall crashed to the floor. A scaly, fanged beast slithered in, hissing and screeching; it lunged at the Corsair, who scrambled away and backed up along the wall, ignored by the Mire. Then the creature stretched out its neck and snapped at Odin and his warriors. "What is this beast?" he demanded, "It's impossible!"
The Corsair reached the side room door just as it opened, and his friends stepped out to watch the spectacle. "Withdraw, withdraw!" two of the six remaining Mire intoned, teleporting back to the ship.
"Stand and fight!" Odin snarled furiously. The wyrm continued its attack; the blasts from the Mire's weapons did nothing to deter it.
"Withdraw" the third Mire intoned.
"And don't come back!" Emily called after them.
"Cowards!" yelled Odin.
"Withdraw".
"Withdraw".
The last of the Mire retreated, leaving Odin alone against the ferocious beast. "You can stop now, Ashildr, they've gone" Emily called over her shoulder. Through Odin's eye-piece, he saw the wyrm flicker with static, and become merely a wooden long boat on rollers, being pushed and controlled by the villagers; who quickly surrounded him with swords and spears, aiming at his neck.
"What trickery is this?!" he demanded angrily.
"Ha! Says the man with a fake face" the Doctor quipped, "But you see, that's the trouble with viewing reality through technology. It's all too easy to feed in a new reality".
Heidi stepped out of the corner where he'd been hiding, and Clara went over to greet him. "You got it? Great" she smiled, taking her mobile phone from him. The Doctor had promised they'd wipe all the villagers memories of the advanced technology they'd encountered, so that their development wouldn't be compromised.
"We saved the town with a story" Romana noted, "And a make believe monster. Welcome to the world through the eyes of a storyteller, Odin".
"Behold, the might of the Mire" the Corsair continued, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "Brutal, sadistic, undefeated…even I believed the stories, but after today, nobody will. Your army marches on its reputation, and today you were sent packing by a bunch of farmers and fishermen".
"Not to mention fleeing in terror from a wooden puppet" Flavia added dryly; the Corsair resisted the urge to grin at her.
Clara and Emily giggled. "See, that was really funny" Clara sniggered.
"It's a good thing we didn't film it…oh wait, oops, we did!" Emily grinned cheekily. Clara held her phone up so they could watch the 'battle' – the Mire firing at the head of the 'monster' that crouching villagers slowly rolled towards them, whilst humorous sax music played in the background. "Adding the Benny Hill theme was a great touch, Clara" Emily complimented.
"The Benny Hill theme, yes" the Doctor grinned, amused, "Now, you see, we could just keep this as a funny little film and play it every year at the Christmas party, or we could upload it to the galactic hub and get a second opinion. So the question you need to ask yourself is this. Just how important is your reputation to you? Here's a little sneak preview, piped straight into your helmets, free of charge" he said. Clara pressed a button and Odin saw the video…the humiliating, reputation destroying video.
"If you don't leave right now, we'll put it out there for all to see and no one will fear you again".
"This humiliation will not go unpunished" Odin warned, "We will meet again". Suddenly, his teleporter activated and he was beamed away.
"Whoops" the Corsair smirked, tossing his sonic in the air, "Guess his teleporter was faulty".
Everyone cheered and hugged each other in relief. Emily went back to Ashildr, wondering why she hadn't gotten out of the chair yet. "Ashildr, you did it! You can take that off now. Ashildr?"
The young woman didn't move, and a terrible foreboding struck Emily. She quickly grabbed Ashildr's wrist, feeling for a pulse…her eyes widened. "Dad!"
The Doctor, the Corsair and Einarr rushed in; the latter rushed up to his unresponsive daughter, trying in vain to rouse her. "Ashildr? Ashildr!"
"Help me get it off her" the Corsair told him; together they lifted the helmet away. Ashildr slumped forwards into Einarr's arms; he cradled her there on the floor and felt for a pulse beating in her neck.
"No pulse…" he looked up at the Doctor, who was staring at Ashildr in saddened horror. "Is she dead?" he asked, not wanting to believe it was so.
"I'm sorry…I'm really, terribly sorry" the Doctor replied, before rushing out of the room, unable to face the grieving, accusing stare.
/
Clara and Emily found her parents and the Corsair in the boathouse; Romana was talking quietly to the Doctor whilst the Corsair seemed to be lost in thought, sitting on a lidded barrel. "Flavia said she…died of heart failure" Clara said quietly.
Nobody spoke; the Corsair merely nodded. It wasn't long before the silence was broken, by Emily. "I told her she'd be fine" she murmured sadly.
"Oh, sweetheart, it's not your fault" Romana soothed, striding over and enveloping her daughter in a hug, "You couldn't have known" she murmured, stroking Emily's hair.
"I should have" the Doctor said lowly, without looking up from the water barrel he was leaning over, "But I didn't. I plugged her into that machine and drained her like a battery" he said bitterly.
The Corsair sighed and dragged a hand across his face. "I should've known…I thought, since we'd set it to human parameters, it wouldn't…" he shrugged helplessly.
"I don't know about the rest of you" the Doctor remarked, "But I am so sick of losing".
"You didn't lose" said Clara, "We saved the town".
"I don't mean the war. I'll lose any war you like. I'm sick of losing people. I'm sick of having people die for me…" he looked up at Clara, and gave her a tired, sad smile. "One day we'll lose you, with your huge eyes, and your never-giving-up, and your anger, and your kindness…and I think it might hurt so much, that we'll jump in our box and run, in case the pain ever catches up".
"You did your best, love" Romana told him, still holding Emily, "None of us knew this would happen. There's nothing we can do now".
"We can do anything" he retorted, "There's nothing we can't do, nothing; but we're not supposed to. Ripples, tidal waves, rules…" he frowned, looking down into the water in the barrel, "I'm not supposed to…Oh. Oh!"
"What's wrong?" the Corsair asked, standing up.
"My face…"
"Who frowned me this face? Why this one? Why did I choose this face?"
"It's okay, we're used to the eyebrows now".
"No! I think I know why I chose it" he told them, a smile spreading across his face, "I think I know what I'm trying to say".
"What?" Emily asked curiously.
He remembered – Pompeii, Vesuvius, and Donna begging to save someone, anyone, from the destruction…he had Caecilus' face. The face of the man he'd saved from a fixed point in time, in spite of the Laws…
"I know where I got this face, and I know what it's for…"
"Which is?" asked the Corsair; he wished the Doctor wouldn't be so over-dramatic sometimes; then again, he couldn't really talk.
"To remind me. To hold me to the mark. I'm the Doctor, and I save people" the Doctor announced, before rushing out into the open air, and shouting up at the sky, "And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of a problem with that, to hell with you!"
He ran back to the meeting hall, where Ashildr was laid out on furs atop a bier…Flavia did her best to comfort her distraught father. The mourning villagers jumped when the Doctor burst in, running over to the broken helmet and pulling out Romana's sonic. "What are you doing?" Einarr demanded, upset at this interruption. Hadn't the man done enough?
"Saving her" he snapped.
Clara, Romana, Emily and the Corsair hurried in. "Doctor, I tried to save her" the Corsair told him, and he really had, he'd tried to make a makeshift defibrillator… "Her…her heart's been stopped too long".
"Well, I've got something here that can fix anything" the Doctor retorted, as he worked on something in the palm of his hand. He stood up and tossed Romana her sonic, before heading over to Ashildr, holding what looked like a SIM card between his fingers. "It's from the Mire helmet; battlefield medical kit. I've reprogrammed it for human beings" he explained, placing it on Ashildr's forehead.
"It's gone" Einarr said in surprise, as the square seemed to melt into Ashildr's skin, "It's inside her".
"It's repairing her. It will never stop repairing her, if it works. Come on, Ashildr. Come on. The story's not over yet" he said urgently. Flavia's brow furrowed in worry…what did he mean, it wouldn't stop repairing her?
Tears leaked down Einarr's face as he stroked his daughter's hair. "Daughter, listen to me. This town has lost so much. If we lose you too there'll be nothing left" he whispered to her...and after what felt like an eternity, and yet no time at all, Ashildr gasped and her eyes briefly flickered open.
"Ashildr!"
"She'll be conscious in a day, up and about in three. No swimming for a week. Now, we're going to need a longboat and some of your best rowers. We're two days' sail from the TARDIS".
"Can't we wait for Ashildr to recover, and say goodbye?" asked Emily.
"No…it won't really be goodbye. Well, she'll, she'll probably see us often enough, once she understands".
"Understands what?" Einarr frowned, confused. At first the Doctor didn't reply…instead, he wordlessly handed him another Mire medical kit. "Will she need to take this?"
"No, no, no, it's not for her".
"Then who is it for?"
"Whoever she wants" he replied.
Einarr looked at the card, then at Ashildr, and then back at the time travellers. "Thank you" he said genuinely, "For helping us…for saving my daughter".
"Don't thank me yet" the Doctor sighed, patting Ashildr's hand and walking out. He brooded on the way back to the TARDIS, until finally Clara couldn't take it anymore.
"Okay, it's official" she announced, "Silence is even worse in a Scottish accent. Are you going to tell us what you're brooding about?"
"He thinks he's made a mistake" the Corsair explained.
"It won't stop, the repair kit I put inside Ashildr, not ever. It'll just keep fixing her. I'm not sure, but it's entirely possible she has lost the ability to die".
"The ability?" asked Clara, with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, dying is an ability, believe me. Barring accidents, she may now be functionally immortal".
"And you knew that might happen?" asked Flavia, "Then why use that device?"
"I was angry. I was emotional. The Corsair's right, I think I've made a terrible mistake. Maybe even a tidal wave" he admitted, unlocking the TARDIS doors.
Once they were all inside, Clara asked, "If the repair kit never stops working, then why did you give her two?"
"Immortality isn't living forever. That's not what it feels like. Immortality is everybody else dying. She might meet someone she can't bear to lose".
"Unless we introduce her to Jack" the Corsair quipped…he sighed when the joke fell flat, but in fairness it probably wasn't the best time.
"I don't know if you did the right thing…" Emily said slowly, "But I don't think Ashildr deserved to die. Maybe things will work out".
"Time will tell" the Doctor sighed, "It always does…though, this does mean that Ashildr isn't quite human anymore. There's a little piece of alien inside her, so in a way, she's… In a way, she's a hybrid".
"I think that's a bit much, dear" Romana told him, "It's not like she's half Mire. Now, I think we could all do with a rest".
/
Flavia walked into the parlour room with purpose, finding the Corsair sitting there with a cup of coffee. "Corsair, we need to talk" she said firmly.
He looked up at her and simply asked, "What about?"
Her eyes narrowed. "You know exactly what about".
The Corsair broke her gaze, staring down at his knees. "…I'm sorry, okay? I should've said that sooner. I shouldn't have told you what I did".
"Yes, you should have apologised sooner" she agreed, "but I'm not mad because you told me…about that…I'm mad because you told me and then left. As if it didn't matter…as if I didn't matter".
"Of course you matter. That's why I shouldn't have mentioned anything. It was stupid of me. I'm sorry. Happy now?" he asked, looking up at her with a slight glare.
"No!" she snapped, glaring right back, "I wasn't happy then, and I'm not happy now. Why didn't you just talk to me about it?"
"What else could I say?" he demanded, "Can't we just forget this ever happened? That's what we usually do".
"Corsair, this isn't like our usual disagreements!" Flavia said exasperatedly, "We can't just pretend it never happened…I was going to, but fortunately Romana talked some sense into me".
The Corsair said nothing, but merely looked down at his knees again. Flavia frowned. "Could you please look at me when I'm talking to you?"
He looked.
"Did you even care?" she asked him, "About me, about how I felt…or did you just see an opportunity to get a secret off your chest, and went off the moment you felt better".
"Yeah - no- I mean, a bit of both. I…I wasn't gonna tell you, but after all the talk about regrets and taking chances, when you brought up what I was really gonna say, when I thought we were about to die…I didn't want to tell you because I knew something like this would happen. I assumed you wouldn't want to discuss it".
"Well, you assumed incorrectly. You can't just tell someone that you're attracted to them and then walk off! I don't know how you ever got anyone to sleep with you…um…" Flavia blushed, and the Corsair allowed himself a tiny, amused smirk.
"Probably because I don't normally walk off" he pointed out, "You're a rare exception".
"I'm honoured" Flavia replied sarcastically, "Dare I ask why that is?"
"You mean why I left? I told you, I thought you wouldn't want to discuss it…ah, who am I kidding? Might as well be honest…I left because I didn't feel like being rejected…well, more rejected, I should say".
"More rejected?" Flavia frowned, "I never…I mean I was shocked, but…"
"Oh, sure, you didn't outright say 'no', but I knew you were going to. I've always known you'd never go for me…I'm pretty sure I mentioned all this before. Like I said…what else was there to say?"
Flavia didn't have an answer for that. "You know, I did wonder…" she said at last, "If perhaps…the real reason you always paired up with me, was because you wanted an excuse to be alone with me".
He snorted. "What, you think I was just waiting for a chance to pounce? You have this really low opinion of me, and you wonder why I assumed you'd recoil at the mere idea of us being intimate".
"Would you please stop jumping to conclusions; that's not what I meant!" she said, "…I know you'd never do something like that. I know you were trying to be honourable…I appreciate that" Flavia said quietly. She hesitated, and then came to sit beside him on the couch. "Corsair…why didn't you just tell me?" she asked, "And don't say it was because I was too 'proper'…I haven't acted the way I did on Gallifrey in centuries".
"Yeah, but by then, we'd become friends…and I…I like us being friends" he confessed, fidgeting. "I mean, sure, I'm attracted to you…but I'm attracted to a lot of people. There are thousands of hot women out there, but…I'm not good friends with all of them. I told you, with you, it's…different. I didn't want to risk ruining our friendship…by trying to become more than friends".
A silence descended, as Flavia digested his words. He kept it secret for this long because he didn't want to damage our friendship? That is so…so…sweet she couldn't help but think.
"I'm sorry I didn't try to talk things out with you" he apologised, completely genuinely.
"Apology accepted…" Flavia hesitated, but she knew she needed to say this. "Corsair, you were right about one thing. I would've said no – but not for the reasons you think. I'm saying no because it's a lot to take in and I need time…and because I don't want to ruin our friendship either" she smiled at him.
He smiled back, briefly. "I don't mean this as a mixed signal, but…" he quickly leaned over and gave her a quick, chaste kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Flavia" he said when he pulled back, "You want a coffee?"
"Um…yes, please. Thanks for what?"
"For not letting me be an idiot" he replied, getting up and taking his cooled coffee with him, leaving Flavia alone with her thoughts.