Two years in her world passed since the tragic death of her mother, perished in the flames caused by a faulty boiler that'd been improperly fixed by the repairman, up in flames her childhood home, everything gone, her only parent, dead, and nothing salvageable from the ruins.
Officiated by the fire marshal, her mother's death was ruled a tragic accident caused by the boiler being improperly fixed and Taylor took legal actions against the company that sent the repairman, resulting in them settling out of court, but even the victory left a bitter taste.
The fire marshal also gave a timeline since the medical examiner cleared it, Taylor's mother was in their den, asleep, the fire claimed her with ease because of the location of the boiler and their den.
She had no chance of escaping even if she wasn't asleep, the flames would've already eaten through the flooring because of how quickly they spread from the faulty boiler.
Once it was cleared, Taylor was given permission to go through the remains of her childhood home, even despite her knowing that there wouldn't be anything left, in her mind she hoped for a miracle.
Out of the piles of ashes, Taylor found a necklace of her mother's, burnt black by the fire, the chain used to be silver, and the centerpiece was a burnt-orange amber cut and polished into a rounded stone, now a darkened brownish colour by the flames.
Nothing else survived the flames, expectedly.
The only remaining pictures of her mother she had left were the ones in her office at the museum.
Although her time at the museum came to a bitter end, as well, two years of traveling with the Doctor (now known as Paul in private company) proved difficult keeping up with her duties that she decided it was best that she stepped back from her job as the curator and focused on adventuring with Paul full-time.
Herbert understood her reasoning, giving his condolences for her loss, but opted on leaving the door open for a possible return to the museum should she change her mind.
She does try coming around when there's a lull in adventuring, to checkup on her old coworkers and Herbert, recently she came through to see their new exhibit, and they've been doing well since she last saw them.
Paul offered the chance of her coming back as a curator full-time, multiple times, but she adamantly refused each time, seemingly content with her life as his companion, as she's called.
And though Paul didn't mind her leaving if she wanted, the TARDIS wouldn't let her, would've kidnapped her right there and then hadn't she come back after each visit.
Since that eventful incident, however, Owen and Jessica hadn't told anyone else about the arapulo, bashfully embarrassed that they imagined it, and have caused chaos in the museum under the effects of prolonged exposure to the leaking gas.
There was talk about telling them the truth, but Paul convinced her that it wasn't ideal, explaining how her world wasn't attuned with aliens quite yet, that it's better for them to believe in the lies created, than tell them the truth.
Suppose, he has a point.
Since becoming Paul's companion, Taylor witnessed things no other humans ever had a chance or dreamed of witnessing.
She encountered her first Daleks, horrible creatures, like Paul said, they hurt her ears after a minute of them talking after a while, and unfortunately, they lacked proper etiquette when speaking, something she learnt quickly.
For Paul, this was old-hat for him, he'd been traveling as the Doctor for over five years, since he turned twenty and the TARDIS showed up unexpectedly.
Taylor learnt from him that the TARDIS picks who can co-pilot it and ornery enough that if the person it picked wouldn't go along with it, it'll make them, one way, or another.
Trust Paul on that one.
Still unusual how a machine seemingly has a mind of its own, how Paul can seemingly have one-sided conversations with it, but Taylor quickly grew accustomed to it, it was like having a second companion, a quiet one.
Paul told her it used to be able to speak freely, but it gave up a valuable part that he couldn't retrieve a replacement in the five years he's been traveling as the parts and their originators have been systematically destroyed.
He's dabbled in trying to create his own version of the part, with the schematics given to his father sometime ago, but it's a difficult task when it requires rare minerals that could only be found on the one place he feared going.
Gallifrey.
Oh yes, Paul told her the truth about his heritage.
Quite truthful to almost a fault, but given the circumstances, it was better for Taylor to know now, than later.
He's one-quarter Time Lord.
His mother and grandmother were humans.
Even though he's one-quarter, he still possessed the genetic anomalies associated with the titular Time Lords.
Hearing his two hearts, for example, if nobody knew any better, he was no different than them, but then the next thing that set him apart, was his telepathic capabilities.
First week of adventuring, Taylor became familiar with his telepathy, almost gave her a heart attack hearing him seemingly beside her, when she turned her head, he wasn't there, and then he physically appeared in front of her.
She earnestly asked if he could levitate objects with his mind, which Paul informed her that he wasn't Charles Xavier, but didn't doubt there were beings capable of doing just that, they just haven't met them, yet.
Courteously, Paul taught Taylor the lengths his telepathy can go, warning her the dangers of him going where he wasn't allowed, risking aneurysms, or worse.
Telepathy went further than that, but restricted to the concept of melding, which wasn't something that was taken lightly, irreversible, it required undeniable trust in the other, and the risks that came with having two minds meld, that there was a reason why it lost favour among the Time Lords.
Shockingly, during the two years they adventured, the two became close, much closer than the either expected, considering the circumstances of how Taylor became Paul's companion, they've tried taking time away from each other to see if it was only because of their shared experiences that drew them together, but in the end, they rejoined each other's side.
It truly seemed like it was meant to be, that Taylor couldn't believe her eyes, that this was fiction, almost like a tease before it gets pulled away from her, but Paul tells her that it wasn't the first time it happened, detailing examples of the previous Doctors who've met their future spouses through unusual circumstances.
His own parents, for example, met under unusual circumstances, and his mother was his father's companion for a longtime before it boiled over into them becoming enamored with each other.
Paul attributed to the TARDIS for how everything came to be, silently processing information, it studied and weighed everything it knew about its copilots that it uses the information to cherry pick potential companions and even lovers.
An invasive matchmaker, he summed, though it meant well, even if to the people who copilot it comes off as invasive.
The reason for it meddling with the private lives of its copilots is only for practical reasons, as Paul admitted.
The Doctor needs someone to keep them righted, be it friend or lover, without someone to balance them, the Doctor becomes a troubling force to reckon with, and one of the worse things the world could face's a Doctor who lost their way, for whatever reason.
Hence.
A morality pet, if Paul's pedantic.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, he stressed, but for the TARDIS, it needs its Doctor, and if playing matchmaker will help its Doctor succeed, then it will do so, until the ends of time.
And there's no way for it to stop, either, almost a compulsion, and Paul would rather not get stranded if he forces the issue.
Truly, an outrageous concept for someone who wasn't clued in, but for those like Paul, it's something to think and worry about.
He did attempt to convince the TARDIS he didn't need a companion or other, but it stubbornly refused, he attributed his familial connection for that.
Being the grandson of the progenitor of the title and all that, it's an amusing tale, but for another time.
Still.
Loyal to a fault, the TARDIS, even when ornery.
He apologized to Taylor profusely for this, he knew that it wouldn't be accepted well, but she forgave him, her mother was the same way, always wanting someone for her, even though she tried telling her mother otherwise.
Had her mother met the TARDIS, surely the two would play matchmaker.
Taylor then thought about her mother meeting Paul for the first time, how she would react to his unusual qualities when it progressed to that point in time where Taylor had to tell her, but having spent plenty of time with him, surely her mother wouldn't be against the two since she trusted Taylor's word, thankful more than anything that Taylor finally has someone, even though their meeting wasn't conventional, by any means.
Strange, honestly, how this all happened to her of all people, but as Paul tells her, it's not unusual, believe him, the universes have a strange order they follow, even if it doesn't make sense to the inhabitants.
Something all Doctors learnt during their time, though the universes have their own orders, there's always a common denominator.
When asked about it, Paul explains it as a sort of balance.
Sometimes a universe wasn't balanced and would do things that seemed abstract to the inhabitants, but as means of balancing itself.
Though the universes weren't sentient, not in the way they know, they'll react negatively when a third-party messes with the integrity of their order, so much they'll react in a way that almost seemed like out of malicious intent on restoring the balance it worked ensuring.
Like guests, Doctors must respect the universes unheard rules, though there will be times they wished to meddle, for whatever reason that may be, or else risk the universe correcting itself with dire consequences.
Dying universes tended to be the most dangerous, for this reason, since they're no longer bound by their own rules, it can result in situations of lethal intent.
Dead zones, quite common, but usually the TARDIS circumvents them with ease, chaotically unpredictable, they tear themselves apart, and when caught in them, there's no telling what happens, because no dead zone's quite the same, each one at a variable decaying rate.
Until finally, the dead zone fully collapses, and the chaotic energy disperses, to be reused in the budding beginning of a brand new, universe.
Oh yes, even the universes have a circle of life.
Like life, there's no telling when the universes finally start dying and becoming dead zones, but the signs of one dying tend to be subdued, that unless they're the Doctor and has access to the TARDIS, until reality becomes uncanny, no one knows until it's too late.
When the universe dies, even then the Doctor can't be certain they're capable of saving anyone before the inevitable, but Paul stressed that despite this, it didn't stop him from trying his best.
Something Taylor grew to understand as she traveled with Paul throughout different universes, learning new things, understanding that there was more to being a curator for the museum than she ever thought.
Experiencing alternate history, for one.
Seeing history play out before her very emerald eyes, from what she was taught to alternate history that was discussed, it's uncanny, but Taylor yearned for more.
She gets her wish when Paul received a telegram from an aspiring, but struggling, writer in the Baltimore area, pleading for help as there's something unusual going on, that he didn't know where else to turn, but to someone called the Doctor.
TO BE CONTINUED…
"Evermore"
