Chapter 7

It was growing dark as evening shadows fell and the heat of the sun faded out as nightfall beckoned. The Doctor had slept all day. Eventually, Tina had left his side whispering that she would be back soon, and the fact that he had stirred in his sleep and seemed to have heard her was all the reassurance she needed that he would be okay to be left alone for a short while.

She saw the door to the attic was open and she went up the narrow stairway to find the light on and her daughter sorting through an old box that had been packed away many years before.

"What are you doing?" she said, "Lucinda, that's my old stuff – yours is over the other side of the room, by the window?"

Her daughter got up, brushed dust from her jeans and looked at her apologetically.

"I know that, but I just wanted to see if I could find anything that you might want to take with you."

"With me?"

She smiled.

"I'm an adult, I can run this house while you're gone. You know you want to go with him when he leaves."

Tina gave a heavy sigh.

"Right now I don't know what I want,"she admitted, "So much has changed – he's changed! And as for leaving with him, I don't even know if he's going to be well enough to leave! He's still sleeping and I can't wake him up!"

Her daughter thought about it.

"Well, he is alien – and regeneration isn't dangerous, right? It sounds more like a natural thing that happens instead of dying. So if he has to change when his old body wears out or something bad happens to it, if he has to literally change into a new person each time that happens, I'd say he would need a lot of rest to get over it. Maybe it's part of regeneration. He said he came back here to keep a promise – to take you with him! He's not dying, he's just resting, he's getting over the regeneration. Think about it, Mum – he didn't even rest after it happened. He just remembered you and came here to find you."

"I hope you're right," Tina said, and she hugged her daughter tightly. Then she let go and looked down at the contents of the box that had been unpacked.

"I haven't seen this stuff for years!" she exclaimed. Then she loaded the clothing and accessories back in the box and picked it up.

"What are you doing with all that?" her daughter asked.

Tina smiled.

"Just remembering," she said as she headed for the stairs.

"Maybe if you remember enough you'll be happy again," Lucinda replied.

Tina looked back at her daughter, and now her eyes were shining with the kind of enthusiasm for life that had been missing for many years.

"Maybe I will," she replied.

By ten o'clock that night, the contents of the box were all laid out on the bed in a spare room:

Clothing from her youth, jewellery, stuff she hadn't laid eyes on since she was nineteen – and most of it still fitted her. But then Tina had left it there and gone back to her own room, needing to be close to the Doctor, wanting to be there when he finally woke up.

She found him still sleeping, and even though she turned on the lamp next to the bed, he continued to sleep.

"I'm sorry about how I spoke to you before," she said softly, "Of course I know you're him. And I'm going to look after you until you're well enough to leave. I won't let you down."

And she leant over him, placed her hand on his shoulder, paused to watch him sleeping, and then kissed his cheek, but this time the Doctor did not stir.

Then she looked fondly at the picture in her hand:

A picture she had kept for almost thirty years, her smiling into the camera as she lay beside a rather tense looking Twelfth Doctor who had insisted on just the one picture. She placed the photo on the bedside table so the Doctor would see it when he woke up, and then she looked back to the man who was resting in her bed, and she ran her hand over his dark hair.

"I know you're him,"she said softly, "I felt it as soon as I looked into your eyes."

Then the door opened and she looked around to see Lucinda had entered the room. Her daughter glanced to the Doctor and then spoke quietly to her mother.

"I got this in town today. Thought you might like it for old times sake. Maybe it was good timing."

And she handed her a polaroid camera. It wasn't the bigger, heavier kind that Tina recalled from her youth, but she accepted it and laughed.

"I didn't even know they still made them!"

"They obviously do," Lucinda replied, "Most people use digital now but these cameras are still about! I put a cartridge in it, but remember you only get ten shots – they don't go far."

"They never did," she replied fondly as she placed the camera next to the bed.

"I'll say goodnight now," Lucinda added, "I'll leave you to look after him. I hope he's okay in the morning."

"So do I," Tina said, and then her daughter left the room and closed the door softly behind her.

Just as the door closed, the Doctor gave a sigh and then he turned from his side on to his back and partly pushed down the covers. As he opened his eyes and looked up and met her gaze, he smiled.

"Hello Tina," he said warmly, "Thanks looking after me..." he sat up, looked down and realised his shirt was missing, then he caught the flush to her face.

"And thanks for partly undressing me."

"I just wanted to make you more comfortable -"

"Of course you did."

He put his arm around her and pulled her down on to the bed and then smiled as his dark eyes sparkled playfully.

"Yes, I am feeling much better. as you can see my strength has returned – oh, I remember that!" His gaze had shifted to the picture next to the bed, of his Twelfth life, on the day when she had smiled for the camera and he had reluctantly let her take one picture. Then he grabbed the polaroid camera and held it out as he shifted closer to her.

"My turn to take a selfie," he added.

"Okay...just the one..."Tina replied, and he pressed the button as he smiled and she lay beside him looking rather tense. As the picture slid out he gave it a shake to hurry the developing and set the picture and the camera back on the table, then he turned on his side and put his arm around her.

"It's the other way around now. Back then I didn't want my picture taken, now it's you saying it. Time changes us all Tina, but we are essentially the same people, just more well travelled than when we first met."

"Do you really think so?"

"I know so," he promised, "And I've missed you. And I'm definitely a hugger. You can kiss me if you want to."

He had taken hold of her hand, and as she looked at him, she felt confused.

"If I want to? What does that mean, you're a hugger and you want to kiss me but its up to me, so like, you're not really bothered if I do or not?"

He laughed, and he smiled and his dark eyes shone with amusement as he shook his head.

"No! I mean, I'm here if you want me. I should have been here long ago, two lifetimes back...two thousand years later I'm here, I came back for you. So you can kiss me if you want to."

He let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

"I've missed you," he whispered, and Tina embraced him, welcoming his kiss as she ran her fingers through his hair and felt the warmth of his touch as his hands slid over her clothing and every nerve in her body seemed more alive than she had known for many years – it was as if that night so long ago had come back to life, and she was back there with the same man, even though he now wore a different face.

She was breathless as he broke off from their kiss and took her hand and placed it on his chest, where she felt the pounding of twin hearts, and then he slid it lower, all the way down to his belt.

"I do believe there's a favour to return?" he said playfully, and she smiled and replied with a kiss, then she slid under the covers and unbuckled his belt and tugged down his zip. As the Doctor gave a soft gasp and his fingers tangled in her hair, he closed his eyes, feeling thankful he was fully recovered from the regeneration, because the feel of her down on him was good, and he knew if he had not been recovered, something as simple as enjoying oral sex would have meant at least two more days resting, because climax at a time like that could have wiped out his energy.

But thankfully he was fully recovered, and able to enjoy every minute of the pleasure she gave him. When he lost control and pleasure washed through his body, he sank back against the softness of the pillow, reaching for her as she came up from under the covers.

"Let me hold you," he said, wrapping his arms around her, "I want to hold you all night. I'm leaving in the morning."

As he said those words she raised her head from his shoulder and looked at him, but tiredness had got the better of him, and he was already sliding into a deep and relaxing sleep. She lay beside him with her head on his shoulder and her hand on the centre of his chest as she felt the beating of his twin hearts, and thought about tomorrow, and wondered if leaving with the Doctor would be such a good idea after all these years. He hadn't even mentioned her when he had said that, just that he was leaving...

When Morning came, Tina was up early.

The Doctor slept in until just gone eleven and by then Tina had already told her daughter it didn't seem likely she would be leaving with him.

"Why not?" Lucinda had asked her over breakfast.

Tina had cradled her coffee in her hands and paused for thought and then shook her head.

"Maybe it's too late,"she replied, "I mean, it's been almost thirty years. And he said he was leaving, not we..."

The Doctor was up and dressed and out in the hallway when Tina joined him.

"I'm just going back to the Tardis to make some checks...she's redecorated and the console has changed... I need to be sure I'm completely familiar with it all before I go. Do you still want to come with me?"

She looked into his dark eyes.

"I'm not nineteen any more, I've changed...and so have you... I don't know. Just go and do what you have to do, I'll have a think about it."

"This time I'm waiting,"he assured her, "If you want to come with me, I won't leave without you."

Then he turned away and left by the front door, taking a slow walk towards the place where the Tardis was shaded by trees as he silently hoped she would decide to join him.

Tina went back upstairs and into the bedroom, where she stood and looked at the two polaroid pictures next to the bed. There she saw an old faded photo, a teenage girl and a rather tense looking older Time Lord who hadn't wanted his picture taken. Beside it was a brand new photo of a handsome man who smiled for the camera while she looked older and tense as the flash went off.

Then she stepped closer, looked at the two pictures again, and pushed them together, side by side.

"What are you going to do, Mum?" she heard her daughter say.

Tina's gaze was still on the two pictures, one faded, the other brand new, placed side by side as she studied them again, then she turned her head and looked at her daughter.

"We're both the same people," she said to her as she started to smile, "Just more well travelled than we used to be. He's still the Doctor...and I'm still her, I'm still that girl who dreamed of the stars and the man in his blue box."

Then she turned around and as she looked into her daughter's eyes, that sparkle was back, that look that had been long absent.

"I can't regenerate like him," Tina said, "But I can still be her. I haven't forgotten who I am, or who I used to be. Tell him I'll be ten minutes!"

Then she headed for the spare room as Lucinda ran down the stairs to tell the Doctor the good news.

The door to the Tardis was open, and Lucinda stood there in the open doorway, looked out again, then inside at the vast room where the Doctor had been inspecting the redesigned console.

"What did she say?" he asked as he hurried to the door to meet her.

"She said she wants to come with you."

"I hope she means it. Do you think she means it?"

Lucinda thought about it.

"Well she did seen unsure at first but then she changed her mind."

"I hope she doesn't change it back!" he said.

"You will look after her – if she goes with you?" she asked him.

"Of course I will," he promised, "And this is a time machine – we can come back any time we want. I won't let any harm come to your mother -I've waited too long to find her again."

And he looked to the house, thought of every journey he had ever made to this place, and hoped that this time, they really would be leaving together.

The Doctor waited, and waited.

And continued to wait, standing outside the Tardis with Lucinda as the minutes passed by...

"She said ten minutes, its been fifteen," he remarked, and worry clouded his eyes.

"She'll be here," Lucinda said, and silently hoped that she was right.

Tina had been busy.

She had not hurried to get ready like this since her teens and a friend had called at the last minute and invited her to a party. She had taken some stuff from the spare room, got changed, and put on make up and as she turned off the hair dryer and shook her big hair she smiled as she saw reflected in the mirror someone she hadn't seen for a very long time...

She got up and grabbed her bag and her camera, and then she ran back to the dressing table, grabbed a lipstick and smiled as she scrawled a message across the mirror. Then she dashed out the door and down the stairs, hurrying to meet the man who had been almost thirty years late.

"I'm ready to go!" she yelled as she ran towards the Tardis.

The Doctor looked at her in surprise - now she looked very much like the girl he had met in his Twelfth life, she was wearing the same zebra print leggings and a black, tight top beneath a cropped leather jacket, and she still had the figure to carry it well. Her make up was all smoky eyes and red lipstick and her hair was big and scrunched up and fell in honey coloured tendrils to her shoulders.

Lucinda stared at her.

"You look so different..."

"And I'm ready to go!" she replied, and she grabbed the Doctor and kissed him, leaving a lipstick print on his cheek as she held out the camera.

"Come here, Lucinda," she said, and her daughter stepped closer, laughing as she glanced at her mother.

"I can't believe you look so surprised!" Tina exclaimed.

"And I can't believe my Mum is wearing a boob tube!" her daughter said.

The flash went off and the picture slid out and then Lucinda stepped back, watching as her mother placed her bags and the camera inside the Tardis doorway, then she and the Doctor embraced and kissed and spoke softly to each other.

"Be careful," she reminded her.

"I'll be fine," Tina replied, and the Doctor wiped off a lipstick smudge with the back of his hand and smiled at Lucinda.

"I'll take care of her," he promised.

Then she watched as Tina went inside the Tardis and the Doctor followed.

They stood at the console as he looked into her eyes.

"All of time and space, here we come!" he said, and he snapped his fingers and the Tardis doors closed. There was a groan and the sound of rushing wind as leaves whipped about like a mini tornado had just hit, and then the blue box faded out of sight and vanished.

As the last of the leaves fell to the ground, so did a polaroid picture. It was developed now, and as she picked it up and saw the image of herself and her mother and the Doctor standing together by the Tardis, she hoped it wouldn't be long until she saw her again. Then Lucinda turned away and went back inside the house. She remembered the Doctor's promise and hoped he could keep it – travelling through time and space sounded dangerous, and she wanted her mother to be safe.

She went upstairs and decided to put the new picture with the others, in her mother's bedroom, and as she placed the third polaroid beside the other two, she turned her head, and that was when she saw it:

Her mother had left her a note.

Actually it was a message, scrawled in lipstick all over the dressing table mirror. But after seeing such a change in her, she guessed she shouldn't have felt so surprised that the parent who had raised her with the stern warning never to write on walls or furniture had done such a thing, because this was who she really was, the person she used to be, who she had found again.

She read the message:

'Lucinda – don't worry - I'm happy at last – I waited 27 years for this date! It's going to be excellent! Love Mum'

There was a huge X beneath it to sign off with a kiss, and as she looked to the lipstick covered mirror and then back to the pictures, she started to smile:

Of course her Mum was going to be happy, she had waited decades for this man to return, and now he had, they were finally together. And that explained everything she needed to know – he was the reason why her mother was happy at last. She had waited long enough, and now her time had come, and she felt happy for her, because everyone deserved to have an adventure – even if it had been a very long time coming.

End

Author Note:

Thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed, I'll just mention this Fic has a sequel currently in progress, Book 2 is called Payback.