Chapter Twenty-Seven: Lost Hope

"Love what you've done with the place."

Emma eyed the new design of the TARDIS's console room. Both she and Snow were taken aback from the extensive changes, which seemed so sudden to them, considering it was not very long ago when they both stepped foot in the TARDIS for the first time ever. The new "theme" of the console room featured aqua lighting and a time rotor, blue Gallifreyan markings on the ceiling and above the time rotor, hexagonal roundels on the lower console level, and futuristic markings on the top level. Several tiny lights went around the walls of the room in a straight line, flashing sections at a time. The console had two screens and what seemed to be a radar on one face. To Emma and Snow, it was much darker than its previous theme.

"Matches perfectly with the mood." The Doctor said.

"What mood?" Emma asked.

"The mood I found myself in when I was kicked out of Storybrooke." The Doctor clarified, surprising both Emma and Snow.

"Kicked out?" Snow focused on those two words from his statement. "Who kicked you out?"

"Don't tell me it was Regina." Emma said.

The Doctor sulked. "No…it wasn't a who, but a what. The curse that surrounds the town of Storybrooke is more overwhelming than I'd imagined. For one moment, I was happy – my memories of everyone and everything I went through in the FTL had returned, all thanks to Ruby. But, like everything else in my miserable life, I had that happiness ripped apart from me. I was rejected from Storybrooke by the very thing that brought me there from the start. I've been away for months, days, years…tried everything in my power to return, yet every attempt has been futile. I can no longer go back."

"Oh, don't give me that defeated crap." Emma demanded. "You're the Doctor. Doctor who – I don't know, nor do I really give a damn. I just know that you're the guy who can do anything, which includes getting us back home."

"I can't, Emma. Don't you understand?" The Doctor retorted. "I've tried everything. There's no point in trying anymore."

Emma bit down on her lower lip in frustration. "So you're saying that there's no way for us to get back home now? All this fancy gadgetry you got here isn't enough to do the job. Is that what you're sayin'?"

The Doctor shook his head, having no response. Seeing how disappointed he was, Snow stepped in with a much gentler approach than Emma. "We have to keep hope that there's a solution. We can't give up on hope, Doctor."

"Hope." The Doctor uttered with a sarcastic chuckle. "If there was ever such a thing, do you think Amy, Rory, River, or Jack would all still be alive right now?"

"Jack and River are still alive, Doctor." Snow notified him. "We were separated from them, but if Emma and I are alive here and now, then they've certainly got to be somewhere else."

"If they are, then they're safer being as far away from me as possible." The Doctor said. "I'm a danger to everyone who travels with me – which is why I'm taking the both of you somewhere else than Victorian England." He began operating the TARDIS controls. "Where do you want to go? Anywhere you want, as long as I'm not there with you. Whatever time you prefer. Past, present, or future?"

Snow calmly placed her hands on his as he was just about to pull the lever that dematerialize the TARDIS. He looked to her, finding himself staring deep in her blue eyes and hopeful face. "We want to go home, Doctor," she told him. "And we want you to come with us."

The Doctor sighed in despair. "I can't take you back, Snow. And even if I could, I don't think staying with you would be in the best interest of you, your daughter, or anyone else in that town."

Emma grew more and more frustrated with the Doctor's defeatist attitude with each refusal he made. "What the hell has happened to you? You are not the same guy I saw before I was sucked away from Storybrooke, so ready to help others and not ask for anything in return." She noted his attire, which went with the current time they were in. "Look at you. I almost didn't even recognize you when you opened the door. You've changed – and I'm not sure if it's for the better or not."

Snow listened to Emma's words and noticed how they cut like a knife to the Doctor, who merely stood and looked at Emma with cold, lifeless eyes. Although Emma was harsh in her address, Snow knew that her daughter had spoken the truth. Much had changed in and out of the Doctor. The new design of the console room was enough of a clue for Snow to determine how much so. Part of her was glad that Emma had spoken up to the Doctor, hoping her words would snap him out of his funk. Unfortunately, all the Doctor could do was to continue moping.

In a dejected tone, he told the two women, "You're welcome to stay here for a while. But, eventually, you'll have to decide on where and when you want to start a new home. Because as much as it pains me to tell you this, you both no longer have one to go back to." As he uttered those words, he had flashbacked to the time after the Time War – a time when he had the same dilemma. It was the fact that he couldn't help Emma and Snow any more than himself at the time he lost Gallifrey that hurt him the most. Yet at the same time – and this was the scariest part to him – he didn't care.