Content warning: discussion of drug addiction and relapse, in addition to what was discussed in the previous chapter around abusive relationships.
On a happier note, we see some of the SJA characters in this chapter, so that's fun.
Waking up on the last day of the festival isn't the most pleasant experience. It means remembering everything that had happened the day before - Saxon's stupid face and River punching it and him punching her and him kissing Theo in some sick power play and Theo breaking down. Theo and Missy finally sharing the truth about their past with Saxon, that they'd both been in love with him but that he'd started hurting them.
Bill lies in bed for a while, mulling it over and willing herself not to cry again. She doesn't quite manage it, because her heart physically aches too much.
Once she's found the will to get out of bed, Bill wanders out into the bus' living space, only to stop at the curious sight she sees.
River and Missy are sitting on the couch, cross legged or near enough, facing each other. They're only a foot apart and they're quiet - talking, yes, but not sniping or shouting, which for them is beyond strange. Missy has a couple of makeup palettes and brushes balancing precariously on her legs and she's dragging a brush across River's black eye.
"It's a real beauty, this one," Missy murmurs, just enough for Bill to be able to catch it from a few metres away, where she stands so far unnoticed. "Haven't seen one quite like it since I was in rehab. Or possibly even since I had one just like it."
"Well, you know me, everything's a competition," River jokes, her eyes shut.
"I have to thank you for the memory of the bastard getting punched in the face continuously, that's going to keep me warm at night for a long time."
"Me too."
"You did good."
River laughs a little, with disbelief, cracking open an eye to look at her. "Did you just give me a compliment?"
"Don't let it go to your head," Missy snaps. "Don't start thinking we're friends. I don't like you. You don't like me. That isn't going to change. No matter how much we love the same person, no matter how many times we have ill advised sex."
"You don't have to tell me," River replies dryly.
"That said," Missy says, and Bill can't see her face from where she's standing, but her voice makes it sound like it's almost painful for her to get the next words out. "If he had to marry anyone, I… suppose… I'd rather it be you than anyone else."
River blinks. "Oh." She genuinely looks like she has no idea what to say, she's so taken aback.
Her eyes finally move away from Missy, and find Bill.
"Oh! Good morning, sweetie, we didn't see you there," she says.
"Sorry, didn't mean to like, eavesdrop," Bill replies, a bit sheepishly. "It's just so rare to see you two alone and not like, death glaring each other."
"Fair enough," Missy says, shrugging, a moment after she and River pause to consider Bill's point. River shifts her head slightly and Missy whacks her on the nose with the makeup brush. "Hold still, Song, honestly, don't get so easily distracted by the pretty girl like some kind of amateur."
"Excuse you, I'm much better at keeping myself composed around pretty girls than you are," River replies.
Missy snorts. "This coming from the woman who looks about ready to burst into enthusiastic applause every time Helen Sinclair so much as breathes."
River goes pink in the way she only ever does when Helen is involved.
"Shut up," she says.
Bill laughs. "Don't worry, it's cute."
"I don't do cute, I do seductive, charismatic, or terrifying," River replies, sighing. "Or I did, pre-Helen Sinclair. I'm too old to be smitten like a schoolgirl."
"Agreed," Missy says, sounding like she is rolling her eyes.
River hits her arm lightly, making Missy snort, and even though Bill knows it's a pseudo friendly gesture, it wrenches Bill back into the conversation yesterday.
A brief, violent montage in her mind makes her bite her lip: first River's pseudo violent gesture, then Clara's slap, then an image born of her imagination, of Saxon's tight grip, of his fist -
She feels nausea twist her gut.
"Who else knows?" she asks, unable to hold the question in.
River looks at her curiously and Missy turns her head to do the same. Their tentative good moods visibly fade and Bill almost feels bad.
"About where my incredible and deceptive makeup skills came from, you mean?" Missy says, dryly.
"Yeah," Bill says. "I mean, Theo's brothers, his parents, do they-"
"Max knows, but never asked for the details," Missy replies, and then she sighs. "Brax… has no idea. He and Theo were never much good at talking about their emotions with each other. They were too far apart to bond when they were younger, and they're… difficult, as adults. His parents know, though. Not many of the details, but they know."
"What about your family?"
"Well, my parents are dead, and good riddance," Missy says darkly. "My brother knows everything, though. Saxon better hope he never comes face to face with Emil. He's the perfect old-fashioned gentleman until you cross him. I'm not sure Saxon would stand a chance." Her lip curls. "God, I'd pay to see that."
"Especially since his husband is rather adept at aikido," River adds.
"Exactly."
"What are Theo's parents like?" Bill asks. "It's weirdly hard to picture. I always think of him growing up on an island like Peter Pan or one of the Lost Boys."
Missy and River both smile at that, eerily similar ones that are probably the first more subtle indicator Bill has ever seen that they love the same person.
"He was a bit of a lost boy, that one," Missy says, voice distant and thoughtful. "Or more Peter Pan, perhaps. Flying around, not wanting to grow up. He got there eventually, though."
"His parents are lovely," River adds, reaching for a cup of tea and sipping from it. "His father looks all gruff, but the worst damage he'll do is spend twenty minutes berating Theo's choice of clothing, it's hilarious."
"And his mother is as mad as a box of cats, but in the best possible way," Missy adds, her voice even more Scottish than usual with that sentence. "Good old Idris and I go way back. She used to kiss my grazed knees when I was a wee thing. I've been her daughter in all but name for years now. Well, perhaps more of a pseudo daughter-in-law. Which is good, since their more official one is so irritating-"
River rolls her eyes.
"Doesn't Brax have two girlfriends, though?" Bill asks. "So that's two more pseudo daughter-in-laws. And one son-in-law, with Narvin."
"Hardly, given that they've never met, as far as I know," Missy says. "Brax keeps himself to himself. In all things. And none of his partners are the 'take them home for the holidays' sort."
Bill, considering her brief meeting of them all, accepts this without question and moves on. "Where do Theo's parents live?"
"Oh, up north, they left Scotland around when Theo moved out," Missy recalls. "It's funny, they're not actually Scottish themselves, that's why Max and Brax - oh goodness, that sounds ridiculous, but I hate calling him Irving - still sound English as anything. But Theo is because that's where he was born and raised. His brothers were too old to pick it up."
"But your brother isn't Scottish," River recalls, frowning at her. "How have I only just realised that?"
"Oh, he ditched the accent long time ago, he thought he seemed like a more authentic posh classical musician with the more Oxford type nonsense," Missy says, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I always figured it just proved that Thete and I were destined. The only two Scots of our families, as nonsensical as it may seem."
"So your parents weren't Scottish either?" Bill asks.
"Being Scottish requires possessing a human soul, my parents never quite qualified," Missy replies, sneering.
"... right."
Bill hadn't quite thought it would be possible to become more concerned about Missy and her life, but here she is, trying not to flip out.
"Were your parents…" Bill trails off, losing the bravery to ask. Not wanting to say.
Missy understands, though. It's in her eyes, cold and bitter. "Oh yes. Verbal and emotional only, except there's no only about it. It's alright, though. I had Emil. And once I got to university, a decent therapist. Thete was so sweet, he'd wait outside for me, every time."
"Shit," Bill says, swallowing.
"It's alright, really, in a few months it'll be twenty five years since they died, and I have every intention of literally dancing on their grave as soon as I'm physically able." Missy tilts her head and smiles, eyes light and pleased. "Perhaps Emil and I could take some chairs and have some wine. That sounds delightful, actually, I shall have to see what he thinks. I'll be in America at the time, but as soon as we're back-"
She gets out her phone and starts texting furiously, a grin on her lips.
Bill, deciding she's not going to touch any of that with a ten foot pole, looks to River. "How's your face?"
"Sore, but utterly worth it," River replies.
There's a knock on the bus door, and Bill goes to open it, assuming it's Clara or Ashildr or Jack, only to be immensely surprised when it's none other than Sarah Jane Smith, journalist extraordinaire and old friend of Theo's.
"Sarah Jane!" Bill says with surprise. "Hey."
"I thought I'd be a bit cheeky and pop in for a surprise little interview about the festival," Sarah Jane says with a grin. "May I come in?"
Bill is vaguely aware of River spluttering and coughing in the background, and glances back to see Missy hurriedly whacking more powder on her face, since the bruise hadn't been entirely covered yet.
"Um, yeah, don't see why not," Bill says, assuming that's the right thing to do. "Theo isn't actually up yet."
"Oh, well, we can come back-"
It's then that Bill notices the young man standing behind Sarah Jane, who waves at her with a friendly grin. He's a pretty boy type, about twenty two with a bit of a baby face, and looks like the kind of kid who would have been the subject of most crushes of girls in his year when he was fifteen.
It takes a second for Bill to recognise him.
"Wait, Luke Smith, from Luke Smith and the Bannermen," Bill says. She looks at Sarah Jane, then at Luke. "Hang on. How did I never know he was your son?"
"Well, I try never to mention it, and there's enough of us Smiths around that it works well enough," Sarah Jane says, shrugging. "I don't want to seem biased."
That's when the door to Theo's bedroom opens, to reveal an exhausted Theo in a t-shirt and jeans and no shoes. His eyes are red rimmed and have shadows underneath them.
"Good god, Theo, you look like you haven't slept," Sarah Jane says with horror.
"Funny reason for that," he murmurs, making a beeline for the coffee pot.
"Oh, sweetie," River says softly.
Does he ever get nightmares? Bad ones?
Oh, I think we all have those sometimes.
Bill feels that ache in her heart again, now that she has an idea what those nightmares entail. She wants to just go up to him and hug him for an hour, but they have company, company that is looking around at everyone and getting a frown on her far too perceptive face.
"Is everything alright?" Sarah Jane asks. "You all seem a bit… off."
"Maybe we should come back later," Luke adds, edging back towards the door.
"No, it's fine, it's fine," Theo insists, starting to make himself coffee. "As good a time for a chat as any. And I haven't seen old Lukey boy in at least a year. You been busy, Luke?"
"Almost as busy as you, I think," Luke says, with a little smile. "You know you're the one who inspired me to start my band? I never actually thought it would work out, though."
"Oh, you've got the sort of face guaranteed to pull in all sorts of teenage girls," River tells him with a little laugh, making him flush a bit.
"Yeah, it's a bit weird," he says. "Like, they're nice and all, but I do have a boyfriend, so-"
"You know Jo Jones? Luke's dating her grandson," Sarah Jane tells Theo, rather proudly. "Though they're currently both off protesting something on the coast of Japan at the moment."
"You mean Jo Grant, who I will never call anything else no matter how many decades she's been married? Yes, I'm familiar," Theo replies wryly, before giving Luke a little smile. "Santiago's a good lad. I approve."
Luke properly blushes this time. "Yeah, he's great. Thanks. Anyway, I can't stay for too long because my band is playing in a couple of hours, but I thought I'd at least stop in and say hi. Plus I wanted to meet your other friends." He turns to look at Bill. "You're Bill, right? My sibling Sky has the biggest crush on you, just saying."
"Oh," Bill says, blushing a bit. "Tell them thanks? Sky's your rhythm guitarist, right? The kid?"
"Well, they're eighteen now, but yeah, that or keys, or violin, whatever's needed, really," Luke says. "They're a natural at most things."
"So are you," Sarah reminds him, with a proud shine in her eyes as she touches his arm. She then looks back at Bill with an old amusement. "Somehow, I adopted two of the biggest musical prodigies on the planet. Separately. What are the odds?"
"You sure they're not like, secretly Theo and Missy's kids? Or Theo and River's?" Bill jokes. "Pretty sure either way, a prodigy would come out."
Missy and River both shudder, while Theo starts choking on his coffee.
"Don't even joke about that while I'm drinking hot coffee, I think I just burned a hole in my tongue," he says weakly, after recovering.
"Pretty sure I can't think of anything less appealing than pregnancy and childbirth," River remarks. "Luckily, I'm about 95% sure I can't actually have children. So, you know, small mercies."
"I think the image of Missy as a mother is possibly the most disturbing thing I've ever had to imagine," comes the voice of Nardole, as he wanders out in his dressing gown and brightly coloured sleeping cap. He frowns at Missy. "Do you even know how to hold a baby?"
Missy stares at him for a moment, her expression thoughtful, and then bitter. "Not really, I'd probably just have tried to do a line of cocaine from the top of its head."
While Nardole and Bill laugh and River makes a face, Theo drops his mug and it smashes on the floor, coffee going everywhere.
"Oh, for god's sake, Theo, it was a joke," Missy mutters.
"That wasn't funny," he says, glowering, his body looking like it's shaking again.
Missy gets up from the couch, her makeup tucked in her arms, and that bitterness rampant in her eyes as she sneers at him. "Oh, I don't know, I thought it was pretty good, actually. We don't joke about my addiction enough."
"I don't like joking about it," Theo says, frowning. "It was serious-"
"You didn't seem to think it was so serious when you decided to go off and find yourself - and a wife! - on a different continent instead of visiting me when I needed you-"
"Now? You want to do this now?!" Theo asks with disbelief.
"No," Missy says, heading for her room. "I'm just making a point."
"And what is that, exactly?" River asks, scowling at her. "Because right now it seems like you're just making trouble and lashing out because you're having a bad couple of days. Which is in extremely poor taste."
"Oh, right, because I've been known for my excellent taste in the past," Missy retorts. "My point, Song, is that maybe Theo could take a joke about it a bit better if he'd actually been there."
"He didn't owe you anything-"
"Yes, actually, he did," Missy says, having reached her doorway. "Leaving me on my own? With his responsibilities? With only my visiting brother and brother-in-law for intelligent conversation? Of course I fucking relapsed."
Anguish flashes over Theo's face. "That isn't fair-"
"No, it really isn't," River says, horrified.
"No, it wasn't," Missy replies, shutting the door. It's not an agreement.
Bill has had her fair share of awkward silences, especially in the last few months. It's safe to say that this one wins out of all of them. It's uncomfortable and painful in the most literal sense. Nardole wordlessly backs up and back into his room, disgust all over his features. Luke is intently studying his shoelaces, looking very much like he'd rather be anywhere else, and Sarah Jane looks lost, staring at Theo with worry.
"I think Luke and I should go," she says. "Are you alright?"
"It's been a rough couple of days," he says, sighing. "Don't ask me to explain. Why don't we meet after Luke's performance for that interview, yeah? I'm sorry about Missy, she-"
He glances at where Nardole had disappeared back into his bedroom, and swallows, before looking back at Sarah Jane.
"It's hard to know what will set her off, sometimes."
"It's alright, I just hope you're all okay," Sarah Jane says earnestly, brow creased with worry as she looks between them all. "You know you can talk to me? As a friend, not as a journalist."
"I know," Theo says, nodding. "This is just… complicated."
"Alright. Well, we'll be off then. See you a bit later, hopefully."
Luke and Sarah Jane head out, and it's a bit of a relief to be back among only their inner circle, or part of it, but that fades the moment that Bill looks back to Theo, who has sat down next to River and buried his face in his hands.
"She's right, it was selfish of me, I put her in danger, what kind of-" Theo swallows. "I should never have left Missy on her own when she got out."
"She wasn't on her own-"
"Close enough," he replies, rubbing his forehead.
"You left because it was essential to your sanity."
"She's right. I had responsibilities, I was - I just left her, I just left all of them," Theo says. "But then can I regret it? Properly? No, because that's when I met you, but it meant I wasn't there, when she-"
"It isn't your fault," Bill tells him. "Maybe you should have done something differently, and maybe not. Maybe it wouldn't have made any difference. She still did all that herself. It isn't your fault, okay?"
"I put her in danger," he says again, not seeming to be listening to her. River's expression is tight as she rubs his arm.
Bill isn't having any of this guilt trip. After everything she's watched him go through in the last day, she won't let this add to it because Missy decided to have a tantrum and lash out at everyone for no feasible reason.
"Unless you literally put the cocaine in front of her-"
"Bill, please," River says quietly. "Leave it. Theo, go for a walk. Take your phone and your headphones, and go for a walk."
Theo sighs. "Yeah. Yeah. Back in a bit."
After fetching his phone and headphones, he disappears out of the door, River watching him go with a pained, and rather guilty, expression. Bill wonders if that has to do with the off finding yourself and a wife comment. Is there actual resentment between River and Missy about that? For all the obvious faults in their relationship... conflict between them, of any kind of serious jealous nature, has never seemed to be an issue.
"Should I… go and talk to her?" Bill asks.
"No, I don't think so," River replies, sighing.
"Should you go and talk to her?"
"Definitely not." River is shaking from head to toe, and Bill realises with a jolt that it's anger filling River up and threatening to spill out of her.
"Shit, you're really pissed at her, huh?" Bill asks, biting her lip.
River takes a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't care about the reasons why he should have been there - because yes, they were good reasons, trust me, and I fully understand why she would be upset. But it was never his job to babysit her like she was a child. She made her own mistakes, and she doesn't get to blame them on him. Especially not today."
"Does she… actually blame him?" Bill asks.
River sighs. "Maybe a little. But mostly just herself, I think. A lot of people got hurt when she relapsed. Not physically, but emotionally."
"What I don't get is why she would make a joke in such poor taste if it was only going to serve to make things worse."
"Well," River pauses, looking like she doesn't quite know what she is going to say, but whether it's uncertainty or deliberation, Bill can't quite tell. "Perhaps she was just looking for a fight, and picked an easy target. She does that when she's hurting, I've noticed."
"Fair point," Bill admits. She's noticed that about Missy too.
"Can you pass me my phone? I think I should go and get some air too. I might call Helen. It should help calm me down."
Bill smiles at that, and grabs the phone for her, and River gives her a thank you kiss on the cheek as she gets up, and then rubs her arm as an extra gesture. Bill ignores her stupid automatic gay heart flutter since this couldn't be further from the time for that.
Actually, a walk sounds good. Really, really good.
Bill goes to get dressed before heading outside, and she wanders over to Luke's tent for lack of a better place to go. He and Sarah Jane are the only ones there, currently.
"Hey," Bill says, awkwardly.
"Hey," Luke replies. "Come in."
"Sorry you guys had to see that. Shit's been kinda mental, lately. And Missy's… well, Missy."
"It's alright, we were just rather out of place, is all," Sarah Jane says, shrugging, a tight smile on her lips. "No judgements made, I promise. I know Missy can be… difficult. And to be fair, recovery from something like cocaine is no easy thing. She should just be proud she's managed it. What is it, fourteen or so years clean, now?"
"Yeah," Bill agrees. "Still, could we talk about something else? Will you guys be setting up soon, Luke?"
"As soon as The Pantheon of Discord clear off, yeah," Luke says, shaking his head, while Sarah Jane bites her lip. "They were hanging around after their set and we don't like dealing with them."
"Why not? They've always seemed super weird, but in a performative kind of way, mostly," Bill says.
"It's not just a performance," Luke replies, a bit more of an edge in his tone. "The frontman is really obsessed with Mum. It's pretty creepy. Hence why we're hiding out til they're gone."
"Yikes, sorry," Bill says to Sarah Jane, who just shrugs, looking more annoyed than anything else.
"Oh, he doesn't frighten me, he's just a nuisance," Sarah Jane says, rolling her eyes. "I can handle him."
"You shouldn't have to, though, Mum," Luke says protectively. "That's why we're staying away."
"On the topic of creepy dudes, stay away from Harry Saxon while you're at it," Bill can't stop herself from saying. After everything that has happened, she has to say something.
Sarah Jane makes a face. "Trust me, that won't be a problem. I've never liked him. Something about him has always made my skin crawl." She looks at Bill curiously. "Have Missy and Theo said something about him to you? That I should know about?"
"Just that he's bad news," Bill says darkly. "Can't really say more than that, but he's… the worst. Trust me."
Sarah Jane nods. "Alright. Good to know. Thank you."
That's when Rani Chandra, Bannermen drummer, and Clyde Langer, Bannermen bassist, walk into the tent hand in hand. Rani is tall and willowy and beautiful while Clyde is rather good looking and half a foot shorter than her.
"Oh my god, you're Bill Potts," Rani says, staring. "Bill Potts is in our tent. This is like Christmas. Where's Sky? They can not be missing this."
"Hiya," Bill says, with a little wave. "It's Rani and Clyde, right?"
"Bill Potts knows who we are," Clyde whispers to Rani, "this. Is. Wicked." Then he properly looks at Bill and hurries to sit down next to her. "Okay, please, one bassist to another, have you got any tips?"
Bill is more than happy to give him some pointers, even if it's hard to tell if it's good advice or not.
Eventually, the tent flap opens again, and standing there is an open-mouthed teenager in a denim jacket, a high sandy coloured ponytail brushing their shoulders. Their eyes are bright and astounded, and completely fixed on Bill.
"Look who we're mates with now, Sky," Clyde says to them with a shit-eating grin.
"Oh my god," Sky says, beaming. "This is the best day ever." They hurry forward and stick out their hand. "I'm so happy to meet you, Bill. You're the best."
"Aw, thanks," Bill replies. "I'm a big fan of your work too, though. Your stuff is great, it's got such a cool vibe to it."
"That's us, too cool for school, that's why we're here and not in university," Clyde jokes, while Rani facepalms.
"Ignore his terrible jokes, please," Rani asks Bill, with the chagrin of a long-suffering girlfriend, and Bill just laughs.
It's soothing for her soul, to be able to sit back and chat and laugh with these friendly strangers that are now friendly acquaintances, and forget her own group's worries for a while.
She can only hope that everything will be okay by the time they have to perform on the Pyramid stage tonight. They can't let Saxon throw them off, they can't let him win. They have to be fucking incredible and give him the biggest figurative middle finger of all time.
And, if the universe is feeling kind, maybe her Star Girl will be there too.
Eventually, she returns to the tour bus, trying not to feel apprehensive about what the atmosphere may be like when she gets there.
To her surprise, it's actually... peaceful.
There's a game of Scrabble going on, and it seems to be Theo and Nardole versus River and Clara versus Ashildr on their own. Bill thinks that it is a fairly even stack of the teams, actually, given that Ashildr is annoyingly good at a myriad of things - Scrabble amongst them.
"Bill, there you are," Theo greets. "It's a shame you couldn't play with us, you might have given Ash a run for their money."
Ashildr cocks a dark eyebrow. "You say that, and yet, my record as champion has never even come close to being properly challenged."
"Pride cometh before a fall," River mutters, but she's frowning. Bill gets the idea that Ashildr is winning, even with the disadvantage.
Bill has just settled to watch the game, having fetched herself a drink and settled on the couch, when the door to Missy's bedroom opens and a red eyed Missy leans against the doorway. Everyone else goes quiet.
"Hey," Theo says, turning to look at her.
"Hey," Missy replies, voice low. "So, just curious, how long am I going to be buying you lunch for what I said earlier? Three years? That about do it?"
Theo's face softens a fraction. "Missy-"
"No, I'm serious," she says, stepping forward, face twisted with guilt and self-loathing, voice earnest. "I can tell your wife wants to kill me for it, and she'd have every right. I should never have said that."
"No, you shouldn't have," Theo says, and his voice is calm but the hurt is still there, partly hidden in the back of his eyes and in the tiny inflection in his words.
"It wasn't your fault that I relapsed, it will never be anyone's fault but my own, I know that, I've always known that," Missy says, coming out a bit faster, swallowing hard. "I just don't think I ever… got over how much I wish you had been there. How much it hurt that you weren't."
She physically gets on her knees in front of where he is sitting, staring at him like a repentant sinner in front of an altar.
"So… I'm sorry, Thete," she says. "Properly sorry, for all of it."
Theo runs his hand over her hair, and her eyes drift shut for a moment. "I thought you might be," he says, before giving her a smile.
She lets her head fall into his lap as a breath of a sigh of relief escapes her lips, and his fingers start combing through her hair. He looks down at her with a soft, saddened expression. Just looking at him then, Bill can almost feel in her own heart how much he loves her, how much it hurts in its own way and how it is a hurt he apparently has no hesitation about accepting as the price for all the rest.
River, meanwhile, watches them with a conflicted expression. She's obviously not as quick to forgive; her anger is still almost visible in how it sits under her skin, unsettling her, while her eyes have a kind of aching sympathy in them as she looks down at Missy, who is on her knees in such surrender to the one they both love more than anything else in the world.
It looks like River is biting her tongue, trying to stop herself from saying something. Probably 'don't ever pull anything like that again', or something close. Bill is impressed she manages to keep quiet.
"Good," Nardole says, breaking the silence that has fallen. "Don't ever do that again, Missy, that was seriously not on."
Missy makes a noise of derisive agreement that is somewhat muffled against Theo's trousers.
"To be fair, your initial comment wasn't exactly kind," Theo says to Nardole, who makes a face.
"That's true." He reaches out and awkwardly pats Missy's head. "I'm sorry, Missy, that was rather rude of me. If you like, next time we see a baby, I can show you how to hold it if you promise to not bring along any drugs."
There's an odd, tense pause.
Then all of them have erupted into laughter, Missy and then Theo and then Nardole and then Ashildr (who seems to have no idea what is going on or why everyone is so worked up, but as per usual is just rolling with it), and finally, River and Bill.
It feels good. It feels so fucking good.
They're going to be okay. Bill knows this, as she laughs with them all, and as Missy gets up to sit on Theo's lap to start playing with his hair and the game of Scrabble resumes. She knows this because they're fucking unbreakable, no matter what conflict rises and falls.
Let Saxon try his worst, Bill thinks. He's not breaking us.
Thanks so much for reading, please let me know what you thought!