Vincent and the Angel: Kindness
It was a warm day in the country, the sun shining in the sky, the clouds a soft white, the world quiet with the sounds of nature. A gently gust of wind blew through the tall stalks of wheat in the field when a murder of crows took off into the blue sky and flew over a dirt road that cut the field. A man watched them go for only a minute before turning back to his painting easel, dabbing his brush into his paints and continuing to make thick brush strokes, using the most vivid colors as he painted an impressionistic version of the landscape before him, truly seeing the wonders hidden in the very simple nature laid out in the yellow-orange wheat. He peered up over the easel, his blue eyes scanning the land as his red hair peeked out from beneath his straw hat before getting back to work painting what would later be known as 'Wheatfield with Crows' by none other than Vincent Van Gogh.
~8~
Amy eagerly led the Doctor and Angel into the Musee D'orsay and straight to the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit, far too excited to see her favorite painter's works for real, as an older man in a bowtie discussed the paintings with a small group, "So this is one of the last paintings Van Gogh ever painted. Those final months of his life were probably the most astonishing artistic outpouring in history. It was like Shakespeare knocking off Othello, Macbeth and King Lear over the summer hols," he smiled as that earned a little chuckle from the tour group, "And especially astonishing because Van Gogh did it with no hope of praise or reward."
"Thanks for bringing me," Amy whispered to the Time Lords as they looked around.
"It's no problem at all Amy," Angel smiled at her.
For once, she was not going to think of this as a museum, because that would just lead her to think of the museum Van Statten had kept her in, how the Doctor's old old self had rescued her, to the museums she'd visited with the last Doctor, the little intrigues they'd gotten into, and then to the last museum they'd been in, how River had appeared. No, this...this was just going to be a trip to see the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh. She hadn't really thought much of art in the Academy, could barely draw more than a stick figure, though she was rather good at drawing things related to a TARDIS. Well, she had to be. If she was ever in need of a part, chances were she'd need a picture to show her sister of what she wanted. They'd discovered rather early that, while she had a talent with the TARDISes, her sister had lacked it. She didn't like getting dirty or sweaty or covered in TARDIS fluids and didn't ever have much luck in convincing the TARDISes to let her try and fix them, unplug their wires and reconnect their controls and things of that nature. Her father had then made her more in charge of the spare parts, the different pieces of tech and other items that were harvested from other TARDISes to keep track of. Her sister invented all sorts of names for the components she was required to catalogue and keep track of and keep organized...really weird names like 'the zig-zag plotter' and the 'wibbly lever.' She knew her sister just couldn't be bothered to remember their actual names. In fact, quite a few Time Lords actually called their controls things like that, but really, they had proper names.
And Time Lords wondered why, sometimes, their TARDISes gave them such problems. They were always being treated like machines instead of living beings with a consciousness of their own. Calling their parts ridiculous names was as bad as someone going up to a human and asking them why there was a grapefruit in the middle of their face when it was just their nose. It wasn't very nice.
The Doctor was a prime example of that. She'd tried to teach him the proper names a few times, but he was as hopeless as her sister had been. But it made her smile a little, at least SHE knew, and she could tell the TARDIS appreciated that very much.
"You're being so nice to me," Amy continued, focusing on the Doctor now, "Why are you being so nice to me?"
The Doctor, who had been looking at Angel with a soft smile as she looked at a self-portrait of the man, turned to Amy sharply, "Sorry what?"
Amy rolled her eyes at that, she should have expected that, ever since Angel had gone to visit her brother, the Doctor...hadn't stopped looking at her when she wasn't looking. It was like he was trying to make up for her not being there the last few trips. She'd noticed, during them, that he would look over his shoulder as he talked, as though expecting Angel to be there, and he'd hold the door open a moment longer as though waiting for her to join them, only to remember she wasn't there. And then...she'd see a little...sad look come on his face and he'd look back the way towards the TARDIS almost as though he was debating going back and picking the Time Lady up, before he'd shake his head and go after her instead.
"You're being nice to me," Amy repeated.
"I'm always nice to you," he argued.
"Not like this. These places you're taking me, Arcadia, the Trojan Gardens..."
She probably would have enjoyed those trips, they really were lovely, nice and calm and gorgeous...but the Doctor literally hadn't shut up at all. All he'd talked about...was Angel. They entered the gardens and he'd comment on how there was a garden in the TARDIS Angel was tending to, how she might like a few flowers to add...and then he tried to steal some flowers and their seeds and they'd ended up running for their lives. Arcadia had been like a large amusement park, and the Doctor had pouted when she refused the rollercoasters, citing that Angel would be fine on them, given how bumpy the TARDIS was. And then they'd found a supposed 'psychic' booth and the Doctor had flown off the handle, shouting that the woman wasn't a real psychic...getting all offended and huffy that some fraud was claiming to have abilities like Angel's and that it was all a hoax...and they'd gotten kicked out of there as well.
The Doctor had only made it two trips, literally just two, before he'd stormed into the TARDIS shouting about how 'Nope, nope, no, he couldn't do it,' and how it was a mistake to leave Angel with Torchwood knowing the trouble they got into. Not even seeming to realize the trouble he'd just gotten them into. Two trips and he'd almost...fallen apart, if she had to describe it. It was really worrying actually. He'd started off fine but...the longer the trip lasted, the more almost...manic...he'd become. He started off excited to see the gardens, but then became obsessed with getting flowers for Angel, gone to an amusement park to just have a day of fun and gotten all jumpy and huffy and almost...irritated with her. He'd compared her to Angel on more than one occasion and she knew it was expected for him to miss the Time Lady, she doubted they'd been separated as long as they had ever, but it was a bit ridiculous. By the time they'd met the psychic he'd been storming and stalking through the grounds like a man on a mission and just...lost it.
Seeing the psychic had been the last straw. Everything, everywhere they went seemed to remind him of Angel. And only serve to remind him she wasn't there. Contrary to the wide smile he'd given Angel the second she walked through the doors again, he'd been just as frowning and glaring before then. It was like...a switch had flipped. He'd literally been glaring at the rotor, his hand turning white as it clenched a lever, when she'd gone to the kitchen to try and make him some calming tea, able to hear him actually threatening the TARDIS that if the box had gotten them there years later for Angel that he'd...well, he never got to finish because Angel had walked in and she'd heard the immediate cheer that sounded in the Doctor's voice and seen the wide smile and light that came to the Doctor's face when she'd entered the console room to see Angel was back, to see the Doctor himself was back as well.
It was like, now that Angel was there, he was just...balanced again.
She really, really hoped Angel wouldn't ever leave the TARDIS as long as she had ever again. They'd learned that, while it had only been a few days for them, it had been a little more than 2 weeks for her (and she truly couldn't imagine the Doctor making it that long without Angel). The Doctor had been completely stunned when she told him what happened, about some sort of Miracle and Blessing and some sort of Family deal thing. But she'd reassured him that it was human in nature and that it was all sorted, that she'd helped take care of it and that nothing like it would ever happen again as far as she could tell. He'd smiled and just...looked at her, saying Torchwood was lucky they had her, she was brilliant.
She didn't think she'd ever seen Angel smile so widely before.
"And now this," she continued, shaking herself out of her thoughts, "I think it's suspicious."
"Well, it's not," he said, a bit too quickly, "There's nothing to be suspicious about."
"She was joking," Angel mumbled offhandedly before walking off, frowning as something across the room caught her eye.
"Why aren't you?" Amy eyed the Doctor curiously.
"Each of these pictures now is worth tens of millions of pounds," the tour guide spoke again, "Yet in his lifetime, he was a commercial disaster. Sold only one painting, and that to the sister of a friend. We have here possibly the greatest artist of all time, but when he died, you could sold his entire body of work and got about enough money to buy a sofa and a couple of chairs," his group laughed, "If you follow me now..."
"Who is it?" a little boy looked at his friend as they stood before the 'Portrait of Dr. Gachet.'
"It's the doctor!" the second boy cheered, drawing the Doctor's attention away, literally making him spin around as though HE had been called, "He was the doctor who took care of Van Gogh when he started to go mad."
"I knew that," the first boy nudged him.
"Angel's found it!" Amy shouted, grabbing the Doctor by the arm and pulling him towards Angel, who was standing in front of 'The Church at Auvers,' staring at it thoughtfully. Amy held up her guidebook to compare the two images, "Look! There it is, the actual one."
"Yes," the Doctor laughed lightly, nodding, "You can almost feel his hand painting it right in front of you. Carving the colors into shapes..."
"And creatures," Angel added.
"And creat…what?" the Doctor looked at her.
"What?" Amy repeated.
Angel blinked and looked at them, "That," she pointed to something in the painting.
"What?" Amy frowned, not seeing anything.
But the Doctor did, there was a small black creature painted into the corner window of the church, its face snarling, "Something very not good indeed."
"What thing very not good?"
"Right there Amy," Angel pointed again, tracing the creature more so Amy would realize it wasn't just a shadow, "In the church window."
"Is it a face?"
"Yes," the Doctor frowned, "And not a nice face at all. I know evil when I see it and I see it in that window."
"I don't know," Angel mumbled, unable to look away from the creature. Something about that world, 'evil,' just...didn't seem to fit with what she felt looking at the painting. She could be wrong, she could be, but...her time with Torchwood had reminded her to trust herself, trusting herself and her feelings had helped save the world and the team, she wasn't going to doubt them now.
And her feelings were telling her that creature wasn't evil.
"I think..." she began, but the Doctor had already spun around and made his way over to the tour guide without her noticing.
"It has changed hands for something in the region of 20..."
"Excuse me," the Doctor called, "If I can just interrupt for one second," he held up the psychic paper, "Sorry, everyone. Routine inspection, Dr. John Smith from the Ministry of Art and...Artiness, with my assistant," he gestured at the girls as they walked over, "Angela Jones. So, um..."
Amy blinked, not quite sure if she should feel offended that Angel had been listed as his assistant when SHE was his companion or relieved that she wouldn't have to pretend to know everything about art. Angel, though, blinked for an entirely different reason, that was the first time the Doctor had used her alias in relation to teaming up with him. He hadn't even done that when they'd gone to stop Nasreen. She smiled a little though, from what Amy had told her about the Doctor's behavior while she'd been at Torchwood...he'd missed her, and it seemed he was still recovering from that. It was nice to be missed.
She'd missed him too...in more ways than one.
"Dr. Black," Angel whispered to him, seeing the man's nametag.
"Yes, that's right," the man nodded.
"Right," the Doctor pointed at the painting, "Do you know when that picture of the church was painted?"
"Ah, what an interesting question. Most people..."
"I'm going to have to hurry you..."
"Being rude again," Angle murmured.
"When was it?"
"Exactly?" Dr. Black shook his head.
"As exactly as you can. Without a long speech, if poss., we're in a hurry."
"Well, in that case, probably somewhere between the 1st and 3rd of June."
"What year?"
"1890," Angel guessed.
Dr. Black nodded, "Less than a year before he killed himself."
"Thank you, sir," the Doctor grinned, "Very helpful indeed. Nice bowtie," he looked at Amy and Angel, "Bowties are cool."
"Yours is very..." Dr. Black tugged at the bowtie around his neck.
"Oh, thank you. Keep telling them stuff," he grabbed Amy's arm and pulled her through the exhibit, knowing Amy would leave the paintings till she was dragged out, Angel following, "We need to go."
"What about the other pictures?" Amy cried, proving his theory.
"Art can wait. This is life and death," he gave Amy a shove out the door.
"Doctor!"
"Amy," Angel nudged her on gently, "I think we're about to meet Vincent Van Gogh, in person."
Amy stared at her a moment, "What are we waiting for?!" and grabbed the Doctor's arm, dragging him along this time instead as Angel laughed and followed.
~8~
A cat was lying on the cobblestone alley but ran off as the TARDIS materialized where it had been laying, nearly right on top of it if not for its fast reflexes. The Doctor and Amy stepped out dressed in their typical attire while Angel stepped out in a plain, gray, high-necked, long-sleeved dress, her hair up in a high bun. They looked around...well, Amy looked around, the Doctor just shifted nervously, trying to keep himself from glancing at Angel but failing miserably.
He didn't know what it was but...she looked...different in that dress. He normally didn't like the color, grey, it was so...depressing and not at all a color he associated with Angel (TARDIS blue being the first) but...it had tiny gold buttons and little other golden accents and, all together, it really...really brought out her eyes, made them shine in the starlight, not that they didn't always shine. Not that he noticed when they shined or not.
No, of course not.
And it wasn't like he got angry when he realized they hadn't really started to shine till Rory started to travel with them.
Not at all.
Why would he be angry about that?
Now that he thought about it though, Angel's eyes had shined during their first trip as well, just after he'd regenerated, had shined the entire time...during that trip when they'd met Rory. And then the shine left them, for quite a while, till Rory came back. It...bothered him, to know that her rather lovely silver eyes had shinned only because of her companion and not, well, him.
He shook his head at that, no, there was no reason to WANT her eyes to shine for him, was there?
None at all.
Nope.
Angel looked at him, hearing his thoughts, pleased to know he thought she looked nice, but slightly disheartened to know he was still being his oblivious self and pushing his thoughts away. It was almost like, every time he almost thought too much on her, something made him change his mind, his mind just...snapped him out of it. Perhaps if he'd kept on thinking and analyzing her 'shining eyes' he might have realized they'd shined the entirety of their first adventure, before and after meeting Rory, because of the Time Lord himself and not Rory. The shine had only left after they'd taken Amy into the console room that first time and only returned because, well, Rory made her happy.
Not as happy as the Doctor, no, no one would ever make her that happy, but just...made her feel like she wasn't invisible.
She sighed, shaking her head this time, not going to keep thinking on that, no, she'd promised herself. If he remembered, brilliant, if not...she'd have to accept it. She couldn't spend more time than she already had worrying about the Doctor and making herself sick thinking about him and his amnesia. She needed to watch out for herself, for the baby, now more than ever. She had to make sure they would both be ok.
Especially now that Rory was gone.
She turned and headed down the alley, leading them on, the Doctor glancing at the back of her dress, it had a tiny train and...no bustle...
~oOo~
"Where's she going?" Jack called.
"She's psychic!" Martha told him as they jogged on, "She must have sensed something with her ESP or seen something."
"You mean she's really psychic now?" Jack gaped, he knew she got tiny feelings from time to time, but Martha had said 'seen' just then.
"Oh yeah," Martha laughed, "She can even really see the future."
"Huh," Jack blinked, "My sister can see the future," he smiled, "That's pretty badass...and speaking of...eyes front soldier!" Jack shouted at him, noticing his gaze hadn't quiet been on Angel's BACK as she ran ahead of them.
"Stop it!" he yelled back at Jack, catching up to Angel as she led them along the canyon wall...
~oOo~
The Doctor shook his head, his head snapping up off the area it had been lingering on, swearing he'd just heard Jack shouting in his head, before clearing his throat, "Right, so here's the plan. We find Vincent and he leads us straight to the church and our nasty friend."
"Easy peasy," Amy nodded.
"Well, no. I suspect nothing will be easy with Mr. Van Gogh. Now, he'll probably be in the local café, sort of orangey light, chairs and tables outside…"
Angel stopped at the end of the alley and looked over at the café a few feet away. She looked at Amy whose eyes widened before looking at her guidebook, 'The Café Terrance on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night,' come to life before them.
"Like this?" Amy asked, holding her guidebook up.
"That's the one."
"Or indeed like that?" Amy pointed at the café which looked exactly like the painting.
"Yeah, exactly like that," he walked over to one of the help cleaning the tables before turning to a man who seemed to be in charge, "Good evening. Does the name Vincent Van Gogh ring a bell?"
"Don't mention that man to me," he spat and walked back inside.
Angel frowned and looked over at one of the waitresses, "Excuse me, ma'am, sorry, but do you know Vincent Van Gogh?"
"Unfortunately," she muttered.
"Unfortunately?" Amy blinked, stunned that anyone would think that unfortunate.
"He's drunk, he's mad, and he never pays his bills."
"Good painter, though, eh?" the Doctor grinned.
The waitresses and the patrons burst into laughter which made the Doctor sit down at one of the tables, pouting. Angel gave a small smile and sat down beside him, patting his shoulder, about to pull her hand away...when he put his on top of hers, stopping her. She looked at him to see him looking at her hand, still on his shoulder, and squeezed it, moving to look at her, solemn, "I'm sorry," he told her quietly.
"For what?" she frowned.
"Rory," he explained, being even more quiet with Amy only a few feet away, trying to spot Vincent anywhere, "It happened because of me. And..." he sighed, "I understand why you wanted to get away from me and visit Jack and..."
"I didn't want to 'get away' from you," Angel cut in gently. Ok, yes, it had been a bit too much to handle at the time, but it was everything, dealing with everything on top of losing Rory, it wasn't just him, and it certainly wasn't just what happened to Rory. She didn't...she didn't want him to think she wanted to leave him. She just...she HAD to.
"But...you left," he whispered, sounding like a lost child.
"And then I came back," she reminded him.
He started to smile at that, "Yeah, you did. I'm glad you did," he added, looking at her softly, "Really glad...I..." he breathed out, "I missed you," he admitted, "Terribly."
She started to smile too, "I missed you too."
"Yeah?" he beamed.
She laughed at seeing his wide smile, "Of course."
"Good, good," he nodded, just...looking at her intently, opening his mouth to say something...
When a voice sounded from inside, "Come on! Come on! One painting for one drink. That's not a bad deal."
The owner came out of the café, holding a canvas, followed by a ginger man, who the trio all recognized to be Vincent Van Gogh. Amy and the Doctor reacted in quiet, though very giddy excitement while Angel just smiled sadly at the man, recalling the time in his life and how hard it was.
"It wouldn't be a bad deal if the painting were any good," the owner huffed, "I can't hang that up on my walls. It'd scare the customers half to death," he held up the painting beside the man, comparing them, "It's bad enough having you in here in person, let alone looming over the customers day and night in a stupid hat. You pay money or you get out."
"I'll pay if you like," the Doctor offered.
"What?" the owner looked at him.
"Well, if you like. I'll pay for the drink. Or I'll pay for the painting and you can use the money to pay for the drink."
"Exactly who are you?" Vincent asked.
"I'm..."
"New," Angel finished for him.
"Well, in that case, you don't know three things," Vincent told the Doctor, "One, I pay for my own drinks, thank you," the patrons started laughing, making him roll his eyes, "Two, no one ever buys any of my paintings or they would be laughed out of town, so if you want to stay in town, I suggest you keep your cash to yourself. And three, your friend's cute, but you should keep your big nose out of other people's business."
The Doctor tensed immediately at the mention of his friend, glancing right at Angel, stiff before his eyes started to narrow at Vincent...
"You meant her, right?" Angel nodded back where Amy was standing, Vincent nodding his agreement as the Doctor relaxed, frowning a bit in thought.
What had that been about? It would be a compliment to Angel for Vincent Van Gogh to think her cute, so...why did it make him feel...angry...to hear her being complimented by the other man? He complimented Amy and girls all the time.
"Come on, just one more drink," Vincent looked at the owner again, "I'll pay tomorrow."
"No."
"Or, on the other hand, slightly more compassionately, yes?"
"Or, on the other hand, to protect my business from madmen, no."
"Or…"
"Oh, look, just shut up the pair of you!" Amy huffed, pushing her way between them, glancing at the owner, "I would like a bottle of wine, please, which I will then share with whomever," she gave Vincent a pointed look, "I choose."
"That could be good," Vincent nodded.
"That's good by me," the owner sighed.
"Good," Amy smiled and headed inside. The owner headed in afer her but stopped, shoving the painting into Vincent's arms before entering.
Angel smiled, seeing the paint was 'Self Portrait with Straw Hat,' before she started to get up, the two of them about to follow Amy and Vincent in.
"Angel," the Doctor called, making her pause as he stepped beside her, "I um, I don't think it's fair."
"What?" she shook her head.
He shrugged, shifting a bit, "You're...cute too."
Angel blinked and frowned as he turned and headed into the café after the humans. She honestly wasn't sure if he was just being nice in giving her a compliment since Vincent had Amy or if he really thought that, his mind was a jumble that had gone right to thoughts of the church and the creature as soon as he'd turned away from her. She wasn't sure if it was the second thought though, he'd sounded rather...hesitant...to say it in the first place.
Even for all her abilities, she would never know that he'd hesitated because 'cute' was not the word his mind had wanted to use.
~8~
The Doctor and Amy were sitting across from Vincent and Angel as Vincent sipped his wine, looking at Amy, the Doctor with his arms crossed, pouting a bit. Angel was sitting next to Vincent. Of course, it was expected, when they'd reached Amy and the man, the two were at a 4 person table, two chairs on either side but each of them already in one chair on either side...so really there was no choice but to sit across from each other as well. That wasn't what bothered him. What bothered him was that...
Angel was sitting next to Vincent, instead of next to Amy.
Which also made sense, Amy was HIS companion, so it would be expected he'd sit by her too but...
He hadn't seen Angel in days and it...felt like longer, so much longer. It was like...he knew. He knew in everything he did, in everything he said, every way he turned, every place he looked, that Angel wasn't there. It was like he could feel it profoundly, her absence, the last few trips. Sure, they'd been separated before, during some adventures, but never for DAYS, mere hours at most. He hadn't been able to do it, he knew that Angel might not have been ready to come back with him to the TARDIS when he set down in the Plass, but...he'd been prepared to ramble out some awful excuse and tug her along and kidnap her if he had to. Anything to get her back into the box with him again.
He didn't know what it was, he'd never felt that extreme of an emotion before. That...desperation...to have her with him again. He'd worried about her, yes. Despite her visions, despite the Vortex, despite the entire Torchwood team...which he knew would look out for her with their lives...he'd worried. He'd tried to distract himself with an amusement park but it hadn't worked. It had gotten to the point where he couldn't stand it and had to see for himself if she was ok.
And to have her back...he didn't want her away again.
Even the other side of the table was too far away...and Vincent was far too close.
"That accent of yours," the man in question looked at Amy, "You from Holland like me?"
"No," Amy and the Doctor both spoke but with two different answers, "Yes."
"She means yes," the Doctor continued, "So, start again. Hello, I'm the Doctor."
"I knew it!" Vincent cried, jerking back as the Doctor reached out to shake his hand.
"Sorry?"
"My brother's always sending doctors, but you won't be able to help."
Angel gave a small laugh, "Oh he's not that sort of doctor at all," she reassured Vincent as she turned to him and held out a hand, "I'm Angel, nice to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you," he smiled back, shaking her hand before eyeing her a moment intently, his eyes roving over her face as though searching for something, his smile growing the longer he looked at her.
The Doctor laughed tensely, eyeing the two of them, before pointing at a painting at Vincent's side, the unfinished 'La Meridienne,' "That's incredible, don't you think, Amy?"
"Absolutely," Amy nodded, "One of my favorites."
"One of my favorite whats?" Vincent frowned, the Doctor letting out a breath as he pulled his gaze away from Angel and to Amy, letting go of Angel's hand as well, "You've never seen my work before."
"Ah, yes. One of my favorite paintings that I've ever seen. Generally."
"Then you can't have seen many paintings, then. I know it's terrible."
"Oh I don't think so," Angel shook her head, linking her arm through Vincent's in comfort, "I think it's rather lovely."
"It's the best I could do," Vincent tucked her hand into his arm, patting it with his other hand, not seeming to notice the Doctor's jaw tense even as he turned his attention back to Amy, "Your hair is orange."
Amy leaned in, "Yes. So's yours."
"Yes. It was more orange, but now is, of course, less."
The Doctor rolled his eyes, feeling a stirring of irritation rise in him, and cut in, "So, Vincent, painted any churches recently? Any churchy plans? Are churches, chapels, religiousy stuff like that, something you'd like to get into? You know, fairly soon?"
"Well, there is one church I'm thinking of painting when the weather is right…"
"That is very good news," the Doctor grinned but Angel stiffened.
"Are you alright?" Vincent turned to Angel, able to feel it as he was sitting right beside her, ignoring the Doctor.
Before she could answer a woman ran into the room, shouting, "She's been murdered! Help me!"
"That, on the other hand, isn't quite such good news," the Doctor leapt up, "Come on, Angel, Amy, Vincent!"
Amy and the Doctor headed for the door, Angel waiting for Vincent to down his wine before following. They ran out into an alleyway to see a body of a young woman lying on the cobblestone, a group of locals already there, "She's been ripped to shreds!" a man gasped.
"Please, let me look," the Doctor made his way through the gathering, "I'm a doctor."
"Who is it?" another woman tried to look.
"Oh, no, no, no," the Doctor breathed as he and Vincent knelt beside the body, Angel and Amy standing behind them.
"Is she dead?" another man frowned.
A woman shoved her way through the crowd, "Away, all of you vultures! This is my daughter!" she dropped to her daughter's side and caressed her face, "Giselle. What monster could have done this?" she pushed the Doctor away, "Get away from her!"
The Doctor and Vincent both stood quickly and backed away, "Ok, ok."
"Get that madman out of here!" the mother yelled, throwing a rock at Vincent. Angel winced as the crowd started to throw stones, knowing she couldn't use the Vortex to create a wall lest they end up being chased down for witchcraft or something like that. They ran away from the crowd instead as they threw their rocks, blaming Vincent for the attack.
"You bring this on us!' the mother screamed, "Your madness! You! He's to blame!"
They turned around a corner, stopping to catch their breath, "Are you ok Vincent?" Angel looked at Vincent, "Did you get hit?"
"I'm used to it," Vincent waved her off, "I'm alright."
"No, you're not," she stepped over to him, touching his head lightly, seeing a rather nasty scrape, "You've been hit, you're bleeding."
"Has anything like this murder happened here before?" the Doctor inquired as Angel checked the cut.
"Only a week ago," he nodded, "It's a terrible time."
"As I thought, as I thought."
"Come on," Angel reached out and linked her arm with Vincent's, lightly steadying him, "We'd better get you back to your home so I can properly clean that."
"Where are you staying tonight?" Vincent looked at them.
The Doctor patted him on the shoulder, "Oh, you're very kind," and walked off down the alley.
Amy giggled nervously before following.
Vincent looked at Angel, puzzled, "Is he always like that?"
She sighed, "Yes. Yes he is. Sorry."
~8~
Vincent walked before the trio, down this street and that, past quite a few buildings while the Doctor looked up at the sky, "Dark night, very starry," he murmured.
"It's not much," Vincent sighed, coming up to his house, "I live on my own. But you should be ok for one night. ONE night."
"We're going to stay with him?" Amy whispered to the Doctor.
"Until he paints that church," he agreed.
Vincent lit a lamp and removed his hat, hanging it on a hook as he pushed the door open, "Watch out. That one's wet."
"What?" Amy looked over to see the painting 'Bedroom in Arles' drying behind her while the Doctor and Angel walked into the house.
Vincent lit another lamp, to reveal his cottage filled with paintings in various stages of being worked on, "Sorry about all the clutter."
"Some clutter," the Doctor mumbled.
"I've come to accept the only person who's going to love my paintings is me."
"I love them," Angel smiled at him, squeezing his arm, "You can tell, just looking at them, that you loved making them. That alone makes them worth loving."
Vincent smiled at that, truly touched at how she viewed his paintings, if only more people could see it that way, "Thank you."
"Wow," Amy gaped, entering, catching sight of the other paintings, "I mean, really. Wow."
The Doctor looked over, examining some of the paintings like 'Blossoming Almond Tree,' 'Prisoners Exercising (after Dore)' and 'Wheat Field with Cypresses' while Angel went to look for some bandages or cloth and cleaning supplies.
"Yeah, I know it's a mess," Vincent made his way into a small kitchen area, "I'll have a proper clear out. I must, I really must," Amy walked over to 'La Berceuse,' "Coffee, anyone?"
"Not for me, actually," the Doctor called.
"Nor me," Angel added, finding a bit of clean cloth and a cup to fill with water, "When you've gotten your cup Vincent, please sit down so I can clean your cut yeah?"
Vincent nodded and put his coffee pot down on 'Still Life: Basket with Six Oranges' just as the Doctor popped his head into the room, "You know, you should be careful with these," the Doctor called, "They're...precious."
Vincent just wiped the coffee ring that appeared off with his hand and plopped down in a chair, sipping his coffee while Angel worked on cleaning the scrape gently, "Precious to me. Not precious to anyone else."
"They're precious to me!" Amy shouted before joining them all in the main room.
"Well, you're very kind," Vincent said before looking at Angel, putting a hand on her wrist as she cleaned his head to still her a moment, smiling at her, "The both of you. And kindness is most welcome."
"Right, so, this church, then," the Doctor cut in, drawing Vincent's attention away more with the slight edge in his voice than the suddenness of his almost-shout. He just couldn't understand it, every time the man so much as looked at Angel one way he wanted to pull her away from him, "Near here, is it?"
"All done," Angel smiled, dabbing the wound once more, a soft golden glow around it that only the Doctor noticed, the man giving a soft smile at that, as the small cut healed, "Looked worse than it was," she told Vincent so he wouldn't suspect anything, "Just a scratch really."
"Thank you," he smiled at her once more before getting up to put wood on the fire. He looked back at the Doctor, "What is it with you and the church?"
"Oh, just casually interested in it, you know," the Doctor offered.
"Far from casual. Seems to me. you never talk about anything else. He's a strange one."
"Oh, we know," Amy laughed.
"Ok, so let's talk about you," the Doctor said, "What are you interested in?"
"Look around," Vincent gestured, "Art. It seems to me there's so much more to the world than the average eye is allowed to see," Amy looked over at 'Starry Night,' "I believe, if you look hard, there are more wonders in this Universe than you could ever have dreamed of."
"I completely agree," Angel smiled softly at him, making him beam back...the Doctor starting to shift uncomfortably as he eyed them.
~8~
The Doctor was rather stiff as he sat in a chair near the fire as Vincent explained his love of art, almost manically, "It's color. Color that holds the key. I can hear the colors. Listen to them. Every time I step outside, I feel nature is shouting at me. 'Come on. Come and get me. Come on. Come on!" he gripped the Doctor by the lapels, "Capture my mystery!'"
"Maybe you've had enough coffee now," the Doctor remarked, tense, a bit...worried as well, the man was clearly very...excitable at the moment, and not quite...with it, which worried him for Angel and Amy, but, one glance at Angel told him she wasn't even watching the man, just...looking through the fire, distant, "How about some nice calming tea? Let's get you a cup of chamomile or something, shall we?"
"Amy?" Angel breathed. They looked over at her as she blinked, her eyes widening, gasping, "Amy!" before she jumped up and ran outside...
Just as Amy screamed.
A/N: This is now officially my longest story! We were about 1,000 words away from passing up Fading in the last chapter and now we've done it! Woo! :)
In other news, awww, did you like that little bit of jealous Doctor? ;) Plenty more of him to come too ;) The time away from Angel did wonders to his head didn't it? ^-^ Angel got a little back on her feet and the Doctor just went completely mad without her there, awwww :) And OMG! He actually seemed to remember a bit of the memory-flash this time! I think it might actually be an effect of being without Angel that he's been so focused on her that the memory-flashes of her are slipping through more than before :) I don't think they every specified in the show what Arcadia was, I know the Doctor was there during 'the Fall of Arcadia' with the Daleks, but I assume there are quite a few Arcadias out there so I made it an amusement park :)
And we have a different title! I wanted to show a little bit about how the Torchwood crossovers affected Angel in making this episode just slightly (a tiny bit) more about her and how SHE'LL come to help Vincent too :) I did one story of Vincent and the Time Lords and another of Vincent, the Doctor and the Professor, so I thought it would be nice to highlight Angel in a title too :)
All I can say is...next chapter, we'll learn something about Angel that might...shock you :(
Some notes on reviews...
I know that feeling lol :) I had planned for Eliza Dushku to be the next Proffy, but with a 20 year age gap...awkward. I've got some rethinking to do too :)
I think it'll be strange for the Angel series since he was John Frobisher too in Torchwood :( But we can always think of him in Pompeii as 12 who was in Pompeii again and pretending to be human or locked in a fob watch and saw the TARDIS and was like...got to have that...and was saved but his earlier self so that he could eventually open the watch and become 12 again lol :) That or he's messing with 10s head :) At least in my mind, in a parallel universe or something :)
There'll be a lot of moments in the Lodger that are almost like paying homage to the Doctor/Donna 'married' joke ;) I'm curious to see how River reacts to him not being 'baby-faced' any more :) Especially since the actor is only (I think) 5 years older than Alex as opposed to her being 20 years older than Matt...hmm...still don't think my Eliza Dushku for the 12th Proffy would work though lol :)
I think Angel will hit a time or two where she wishes her family was there (River) and it might make her doubt herself for a moment or two, but they'll always be in her hearts to cheer her up :) Oh Vincent will see more than just a sadness in Angel ;) Quite a few things really :) I hope we get a flirty Doctor too (with just a bit more danger to him) :)
Lol, yup, I planned that, the Harkness 'siblings' are Immortal :)
I think he'll keep the bar up. I always can't picture the next Doctor being able to top the prior one, but they always manage it :)
I think, as long as I can find actresses who would fit with 12 in appearance that it should be ok :) Might be just a tiny bit awkward for something I had planned in one series, unless I rewrite it...but it'll still depend on the actress :)
I'm glad you liked Miracle Day and Gray :) I've thought of Jack/OC, but...I just can't quite picture him with anyone but Ianto, contradictory to making Ianto remain mortal in Miracle Day. But that is interesting for Gray to find someone too :) I think he deserves a little happiness too :) Though the immortal thing sort of puts a tiny issue into it, but then again, there must be human-oid aliens with longevity :)
Lol, oh the Doctor did more than talk about her ;) I really wanted to hint at what he's like when she's not there for a very long period of time (well, long to him lol). And thanks! I've posted it on tumblr with a link to the story and credit to you :) There'll definitely be some moments coming up in the Lodger yup :) I think Angel fell in love with just who he was as a whole, his care, compassion, ability to feel guilt, drive to do the right thing/protect people/help people, his concern for children, his selflessness, and even though he has darkness in him he tries to rise above it and be a better man, he fights to not let it control him and I think that's something she sees tells a lot about the sort of man he is :) Just a good man :) Lol, opposites attract I suppose :) I think they fell in love around the same time but realized it in different ways :) And thanks! I'm glad you like the stories so far :)
My favorite Doctor to write about in the main series is 11, just because that dark quality I think is much more present and that's fun to explore :) But, actually, I really did enjoy the AU 10th Doctor in Rewritten, because he was original and made up and different than 10 and let me really write the sort of Doctor I've been hoping for for a while, a 'prim and proper gentleman' but with a suave side, a dark side, and a side that's just for Proffy :) But of the actual show Doctors, 11 :)