Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 12 of Through It All. I want to thank those who have left reviews for this story. It truly does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this story. I'm currently trying my best to make sure that each chapter comes up in a timely fashion. Granted, in a few months it'll be taking me a bit longer with updates since I just found out from my doctor that I'm to have surgery on my right wrist which has been causing quite a bit of trouble for me lately. I'm honestly not looking forward to it because it is going to take me forever to update stories that don't have multiple chapters already written out and ready to go. Without further ado Chapter 12. ENJOY!
Chapter 12
The Doctor and Gwendalyn went into the bedchamber that they knew as Reinette's bedchamber.
The Doctor looked around noticing that it was no longer fit for a little girl. "Reinette? Just checking you're okay." He played a few notes on the harp.
"Ahem." A female voice rang out causing the two of them to turn around.
"Oh. Hello. Er, I was just looking for Reinette. This is still her room, isn't it? I've been away, not sure how long."
"Reinette! We're ready to go." Her mother called out from the hallway.
Gwendalyn looked at the door hoping that the woman wouldn't come into the bedroom.
"Go to the carriage, Mother. I will join you there. It is customary, I think, to have imaginary friends only during one's childhood. You are to be congratulated on your persistence." The woman said out to her mother hoping that it would keep her mother out in the hallway instead of coming into the room and seeing a man and a woman there in her room.
"Reinette! Well. Goodness, how you've grown." The Doctor said, looking at the young woman.
"And you do not appear to have aged a single day. That is tremendously impolite of you." She said looking at the two of them.
Gwendalyn rubbed the back of her neck shyly.
"Right, yes, sorry. Listen, lovely to catch up, but better be off, eh? Don't want your mother finding you up here with a strange man, do we?"
"Strange? How could you be a stranger to me? I've known you since I was seven years old." Reinette questioned looking at the Doctor.
"Yeah, I suppose you have. I came to the quick route."
"You seem to be flesh and blood, at any rate, but this is absurd. Reason tells me you cannot be real."
"Oh, you never want to listen to reason"
"Mademoiselle! Your mother grows impatient." The servant called out.
"A moment! So many questions. So little time." Reinette kissed the Doctor pushing him against the wall.
Gwendalyn crossed her arms in irritation, narrowing her eyes as he joined in.
"Mademoiselle Poisson!"
Reinette ran out of the room and the servant entered the room.
"Poisson? Reinette Poisson? No! No, no, no, no, no way. Reinette Poisson? Later Madame Etoiles? Later still mistress of Louis the Fifteenth, uncrowned Queen of France? Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan, fantastic gardener!"
"Who the hell are you?!"
"I'm the Doctor, and I just snogged Madame de Pompadour. Ha, ha!"
Gwendalyn scoffed as she left the room in anger. Her hands clenched at her sides as she went into the fireplace room.
The Doctor followed Gwendalyn into the fireplace room. He looked around letting out a breath. "Rose! Mickey! Every time. Every time, it's rule one. Don't wander off. I tell them, I do. Rule one. There could be anything on this ship."
"Well let's search for them," Gwendalyn said as she pushed past him.
The Doctor blinked a few times in confusion. "Dalyn?"
"Don't Dalyn me!" She snapped as she walked into the corridor to look for Rose and Mickey.
The Doctor let out a breath knowing that Gwendalyn was mad at him. He should've been more careful with Reinette, but he had been taken by surprise and it was just a reflex of his to return the kisses. He walked down a corridor with her looking around. "Rose?" He turned to see the horse following right behind them. "Will you stop following me? I'm not your mother."
Gwendalyn opened a pair of white wooden doors and a bright light flooded into the room.
The Doctor blinked a few times as he peered inside. "So this is where you came from, eh, horsey?"
The two of them went inside bringing the horse into the Dyffryn Gardens. They hid behind a stone urn that was on the wall listening to Reinette and a woman.
"Oh, Catherine, you are too wicked," Reinette said, laughing lightly.
"Oh, speaking of wicked, I hear Madame de Chateauroux is ill and close to death."
"Yes. I am devastated."
"Oh, indeed. I myself am frequently inconsolable. The King will therefore be requiring a new mistress. You love the King, of course?"
"He is the King, and I love him with all my heart. And I look forward to meeting him."
A peacock called and Reinette turned around.
The Doctor pushed himself up against Gwendalyn to keep from being seen.
"Is something wrong, my dear?"
Reinette shook her head. "Not wrong, no."
"Every woman in Paris knows your ambitions."
"Every woman in Paris shares them."
"You know of course that the King is to attend the Yew Tree ball?"
"As am I."
DWDWDW
Gwendalyn and The Doctor found Rose and Mickey looking at a large window looking at what was going on.
A man entered the room with two men.
"Blimey, look at this guy. Who does he think he is?" Mickey questioned crossing his arms.
"The King of France." The Doctor said as he approached them with Gwendalynbehind him.
Rose turned her head to see the Doctor and Gwendalyn. "Oh, here's trouble. What you been up to?"
"Oh, this and that. Became the imaginary friend of a future French aristocrat, picked a fight with a clockwork man."
A horse neighed breaking his thoughts.
"And we met a horse," Gwendalyn said softly, crossing her arms.
Mickey's brow raised in confusion. "What's a horse doing on a spaceship?"
"Mickey, what's pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship? Get a little perspective. See these? They're all over the place. On every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history." The Doctor explained to the young man.
Reinette entered the room curtseying to the King.
"Hers. Time windows dare deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the ffifty-firstcentury stalking a woman from the eighteenth. Why?"
"Who is she?" Rose questioned her brows furrowed in confusion.
"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, known to her friends as Reinette. One of the most accomplished women who ever lived."
"So has she got plans of being the Queen, then?"
"No, he's already got a Queen. She's got plans of being his mistress."
"Oh, I get it. Camilla."
"I think this is the night they met. The night of the Yew Tree ball. In no time at the flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her rooms at the palace. Even her title. Madame de Pompadour."
The King and his servants leave Reinette alone in the room.
The young woman checked her appearance in the mirror.
"The Queen must have loved her."
"Oh, she did. They get on very well."
"The King's wife and the King's girlfriend?" Mickey questioned looking at the scene unfolding before them.
"France. It's a different planet."
"Not fully, just more advanced when it comes to their lovers," Gwendalyn said as she pursed her lips together the ring not feeling all that comfortable on her left hand. She knew that once this was over they would have to talk about what had happened. "But it seems like there is another clockwork android coming for her."
The Doctor grabbed a fire extinguisher from Mickey and rotated the mirror. "Hello, Reinette. Hasn't time flown?"
"Fireplace man!" Reinette said looking at him thankfully.
The Doctor sprayed the android and threw the extinguisher back to Mickey.
The android began to creak.
"What's it doing?" Mickey questioned gripping the fire extinguisher.
"Switching back on. Melting the ice."
Mickey swallowed the lump in his throat. "And then what?"
Gwendalyn's lips went together in thought. "Then it kills everyone in the room. Focuses the mind, doesn't it? Who are you? Identify yourself. Order it to answer me."
"Why should it listen to me?" Reinette questioned looking at the woman.
"I don't know. It did when you were a child. Let's see if you've still got it."
"Answer her question. Answer any and all questions put to you."
"I am repairing droid seven." The android said.
"What happened to the ship, then? There was a lot of damage." The Doctor questioned not liking where this was going.
"Ion storm. Eighty-two percent system failure."
"That ship hasn't moved in over a year. What's taken you so long?"
"We did not have the parts."
"Always comes down to that, doesn't it? The parts." Mickey said not liking the idea of what could've happened. He didn't want to hear what the next question was.
"What's happened to the crew? Where are they?" The Doctor asked, his hands gripping tightly at his sides.
"We did not have the parts."
"There should have been over fifty people on your ship. Where did they go?"
"We did not have the parts."
"Fifty people don't just disappear. Where. Oh. You didn't have the parts, so you used the crew."
"The crew?" Mickey questioned swallowing the lump in his throat.
"We found a camera with an eye in it, and there was a heart wired into machinery," Rose said, looking at the Doctor.
"It was just doing what it was programmed to. Repairing the ship any way it can, with whatever it could find. No one told them the crew wasn't on the menu. What did you say the flight deck smelt of?"
"Someone cooking."
"Flesh plus heat. Barbeque. But what are you doing here? You've opened up time windows. That takes colossal energy. Why come here? You could have gone to your repair yard. Instead, you come to eighteenth-century France? Why?" He said, turning his attention to the android again.
"One more part is required."
"Then why haven't you taken it?"
"She is incomplete."
"What, so, that's the plan, then. Just keep opening up more and more time windows, scanning her brain, checking to see if she's done yet."
"Why her? You've got all of history to choose from. Why specifically her?" Rose questioned her brows furrowing together in concern.
"We are the same."
"We are not the same. We are in no sense the same." Reinette said her hand on her chest in worry.
"We are the same."
"Get out of here. Get out of here this instant!"
"Reinette, no."
The android teleported away.
Gwendalyn let out a breath rubbing her temples.
The Doctor looked at Rose and Mickey. "It's back on the ship. Rose, take Mickey and Arthur. Get after it. Follow it. Don't approach it, just watch what it does."
"Arthur?" Rose questioned tilting her head to the side.
"Good name for a horse." The Doctor mused.
"No, you're not keeping the horse."
"I let you keep Mickey. Now go! Go! Go!" The Doctor said closing the mirror behind Mickey and Rose once they had gone through. He touched Gwendalyn's hand softly with his only to feel her freeze next to him. He cursed himself inside his mind for what he had allowed happening between him and Reinette. "Reinette, you're going to have to trust me. I need to find out what they're looking for. There's only one way I can do that. It won't hurt a bit." The Doctor said as he began to do a mind meld with Reinette.
"Fireplace man, you are inside my mind."
"Oh dear, Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here."
"You are in my memories. You walk among them."
Gwendalyn looked away, crossing her arms in frustration.
"If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door and close it. I won't look. Oh, there's a door just there. You might want to cl. Oh, several."
"To walk among the memories of another living soul. Do you ever get used to this?"
"I don't make a habit of it." The Doctor said, shaking his head, not liking the idea of even using it. When he had used it on Gwendalyn he didn't like it whatsoever to know how much pain that she had gone through during the time that they were apart.
"How can you resist?"
"What age are you?"
"So impertinent a question so early in the conversation. How promising."
"No, not my question, theirs. You're twenty-three and for some reason, that means you're not old enough. Sorry, you might find old memories reawakening. Side effect."
"Oh, such a lonely childhood."
"It'll pass. Stay with me."
"Oh, Doctor. So lonely. So very, very alone."
"What do you mean, alone? You've never been alone in your life. When did you start calling me Doctor?"
"Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now. How can you bear it?"
The Doctor broke the link pulling away from her. His brows shot up as he looked at her. "How did you do that?"
"A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction. Oh, Doctor. My lonely Doctor. Dance with me."
The Doctor swallowed the lump in his throat knowing he couldn't bring himself to do that. "I can't."
"Dance with me."
The Doctor shook his head. "This is the night you dance with the King."
"Then first, I shall make him jealous."
The Doctor shook his head. "I can't."
"Doctor. Doctor who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?"
Gwendalyn's hands tightened at her sides as they began to glow purple for a moment until she got control of her magic.
"What did you see?"
"That there comes a time, Time Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance."
"He knows how to dance." Gwendalyn snapped, narrowing her eyes at Reinette. "He doesn't want to dance."
The Doctor turned his head seeing that Gwendalyn wasn't happy in the least bit. He slowly backed away a little bit knowing that this wasn't good.
Gwendalyn knew him the best. She knew that he wanted to dance. She scoffed, rolling her eyes and using her magic to open the mirror. "I'm going. You do what you want." She said brushing past him in irritation. She wasn't going to bother talking to him as his eyes were on Reinette at that moment. Perhaps he had changed. More than she cared to admit.
DWDWDW
Gwendalyn found where Mickey and Rose were being held and found a very drunk fiancee. She let out a breath shaking her head lightly.
"What've you been doing? Where've you been?" Rose demanded looking at the Doctor from where she was being held.
"Well, among other things, I think just invented the banana daiquiri a few centuries early. Do you know, they've never even seen a banana before? Always take a banana to a party, Rose. Bananas are good. Oh ho, ho, ho, ho, brilliant. It's you. You're my favorite, you are. You are the best! Do you know why? Because you're so thick. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickety Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania. And so's your dad. Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for? Her milometer. They want to know how old she is. Know why? Because this ship is thirty-seven years old, they think that when Reinette is thirty-seven, when she's complete, then her brain will be compatible. So, that's what you're missing, isn't it, hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason, God knows what, only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do."
"The brain is compatible."
"Compatible? If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine." The Doctor said removing the android's mask and pouring the contents of the goblet onto its head. The clockwork began to seize up from having liquid poured onto it. "Multigrain anti-oil. If it moves, it doesn't."
Gwendalyn used her magic, breaking the bonds that held Rose and Mickey. "Time we got the rest of the ship turned off."
"Are those things safe?" Mickey questioned looking at them.
"Yeah. Safe. Safe and thick, the way I like them. Okay. All the time the windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down. Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs? I had them a minute ago. I was using them as castanets." The Doctor explained trying to figure out where he had put his Zeus plugs.
Gwendalyn shook her head lightly, scoffing.
"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty-seven?" Rose questioned why they wouldn't have gone after Reinette when it was time.
"With the amount of damage to these circuits, they did well to hit the right century. Trial and error after that. The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close?"
A bell rang.
"What's that?"
"I don't know. The incoming message?"
"From who?" Mickey asked, confused.
"Report from the field. One of them must still be out there with Reinette. That's why I can't close the windows. There's an override."
Gwendalyn turned her attention to see the first android reactivating and expelling the anti-oil out through its finger.
"Well, that was a bit clever."
The off switch moved itself to on.
"Right. Many things about this are not good. Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting?"
"She is complete. It begins."
All of the androids teleported out of the room.
"What's happening?" Rose questioned concerned about what was going on.
"One of them must have found the right time window. Now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head." The Doctor said softly concerned that time would be messed up if they took Reinette's head at 37 when she was to live till 43.
DWDWDW
Rose and Mickey rushed up to The Doctor and Gwendalyn. "You found it, then?"
"They knew we were coming. They blocked it off." The Doctor explained to Rose.
Rose looked at the screen in the bulkhead room. "I don't get it. How come they got in there?"
"They teleported. You saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short-range teleports will do the trick."
"Well, we'll go to the Tardis!"
Gwendalyn shook her head. "We can't use the Tardis. We're part of events now."
"Well, can't we just smash through?" Mickey questioned looking over at the two aliens.
"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other. We need a truck." The Doctor explained to them.
"We don't have a truck."
"I know we don't have a truck!"
"Well, we've got to try something," Rose said, crossing her arms.
"No. Smash the glass, smash the time window. There'd be no way back." The Doctor explained looking at them.
"Could everyone just calm down? Please." Reinette said softly over the screen.
Gwendalyn looked at the Doctor, seeing what he was going to do. "Of course." She said softly looking away knowing that he was going after her. Gwendalyn moved towards him, slipping the ring off of her finger and putting it into his trench coat. "Go… and think about what you've done." She said softly in his ear as she moved back knowing that this wasn't going to be good. She moved to a seat and sat down looking down at the floor as the Doctor moved out of the room.
Mickey looked at the strawberry blonde-haired woman knowing that she was upset about what was going on. He had to admit that it wasn't very nice of the Doctor in the way that he was treating Gwendalyn. He thought that the two of them loved one another. At least that was what he had seen prior. Mickey looked up at the screen seeing what was going on and then it was gone. "What happened? Where did the time window go? How's he going to get back? We can't fly the Tardis without him. How's he going to get back?"
Gwendalyn looked up sadly as tears slid down her cheeks. "He's not coming back." She said getting up on her feet. She stuck her hands in her pockets walking out of the room and towards the Tardis. She knew that he would never come back and she would have to try and fly Mickey and Rose back to their timeline and then remain there. Her heart felt like it was breaking in two. She couldn't believe that he had broken the mirror and broken the way that he could get back home to her and his companions that he now had.
DWDWDW
Gwendalyn sat on the chair with her hands up against her lips in thought. If he did find a way out of the past, would he want Reinette by his side instead of her? Thinking of that made her heartache inside of her chest. She wasn't all that willing to let her fiancee go even though she had returned the ring to him. She wanted him to think things through about the events that happened this time around.
The Doctor came into the room smiling seeing the three of them waiting. He hugged Rose. "How long did you wait?"
"Five and a half hours."
"Great. Always wait five and a half hours." Rose said, looking at the Doctor.
The Doctor shook Mickey's hand. His eyes went toward his fiancee and saw that she wasn't looking at him. He knew that she must've been upset with him. He knew at some point he needed to talk to her and get things better.
"Where've you been?"
"Explain later. Into the Tardis. Be with you in a sec."
Gwendalyn got up to her feet following the Doctor back to the fireplace room. Her hands gripped tightly at her sides.
"Reinette? You there, Reinette? Reinette? Oh, hello." The Doctor said holding his fiancee back surprised to see Louis there.
"You just missed her. She'll be in Paris by six." Louis said, looking at the two of them.
"Ah."
"Good Lord. She was right. She said you never looked a day older. So many years since I saw you last, but not a day of it on your face." He said as he took a sealed letter from a drawer. "She spoke of you many times. Often wished you'd visit again. You know how women are." He gave the letter to the Doctor. He looked out the window. "There she goes."
The Doctor turned his head to see a hearse going down the driveway in the pouring rain. He was too late to take her to see the stars.
"Leaving Versailles for the last time. She was only forty-three when she died. Too young. Too young. Illness took her in the end. She always worked too hard. What does she say?"
The Doctor put the unopened letter inside his jacket.
Louis nodded his head slowly knowing exactly what that meant. "Of course. Quite right."
"I am sorry for your loss, King Louis," Gwendalyn said curtsying before slowly turning to face the Doctor. "We need to go." She told him softly.
DWDWDW
Rose let out a soft breath. What was bothering her was why they were going after a young woman when what they needed were parts and not human parts. "Why her? Why did they think they could repair the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?"
"We'll probably never know. There was massive damage to the computer memory banks. It probably got confused. The Tardis can close down the time windows now the droids are gone. Should stop it causing any more trouble." The Doctor said switching it around to make the Tardis go.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm always alright."
"Come on, Rose. It's time you showed me around the rest of this place." Mickey said, offering her a smile.
The two of them leave Gwendalyn and the Doctor together.
The Doctor slowly took out the letter.
Gwendalyn shook her head lightly. "I'll be in my room if you need me." She said before leaving the Doctor alone.
The Doctor's shoulders slumped knowing that he was really in big trouble. The question was would he be able to fix what had happened between him and his Mis? His eyes went to the letter and he slowly opened it reading what was in it.
"My dear Doctor. The path has never seemed slower, and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head, and know that all things are possible. Hurry though, my love. My days grow shorter now, and I am so very weak. Godspeed, my lonely angel."
The Doctor let out a breath knowing that this was something that he was concerned about what had happened. He was going to have to make sure that his fiancee wouldn't leave him. His hand went to the ring that she put in his pocket. He let out a soft breath as he gripped the ring. He knew that he should've been more careful than he was with Gwendalyn right there. He could only hope that he hadn't messed up that badly.
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This is the end of Chapter 12. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. It took me a little bit compared to other chapters that I had to write out. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Hopefully, I'll update next week with a brand new chapter, but now I'm to the point that I have no new updates and I have to write the chapters out. But I have my fingers crossed in hopes that I can get it out next week. Until next time.