It has been a while since I've posted anything. I've been hovering in a bit of a dark headspace for a while and thought I might try revisiting something I used to love to help me feel better. I don't believe I'll be posting again for a while, so I am sorry if people get their hopes up. In Which prime was more for others than for me, after a while, and In Which 2, HP edition is a massive strike out. I perhaps should have started that when I was happier.

Life is hard. It's hard for most of us in many different ways, but I do hope that my message for myself helps someone else in some way.

It's been a long time since I've written the Doctor. It's been a long time since I've written at all. I'm sorry for any errors in characterization.

~Kat

In Which…

Katrina Lycanthrope Needs Some Motivation From An Old Friend

It had been a long time, to put it lightly. The youthful innocence of the child that she was had passed too many mistakes ago. Katrina, an adult, steadily nearing her thirtieth birthday one year at a time, was tired.

So incredibly tired.

Depression was a bitch, she thought to herself as she sat between the open doors of the Tardis, mug of nighty night blend herbal tea in one hand and the other on the floor. Stars floated this way and that before her eyes, the vastness of space comforting in moments such as this. Problems seemed so small when looking at boundless expanse of the Universe.

It felt like lifetimes ago since she had last felt passion burning in her chest. Long, long days of disappointment after disappointment, failure after failure echoed in her brain like television static. And yet…

The movement of time was calm. There was nothing out there in the Universe that couldn't be solved with a little hard work and the motivation to try.

Taking a sip of her tea, Katrina let out a sigh, pushing her dyed crimson hair off of her forehead and closing her eyes. This was enough. She was enough.

"It's going to be okay," she told both herself and the Universe, opening her eyes once more. "With time, everything will be okay."

"Katrina..?" The soft voice of the Doctor came from behind her, the question groggy and confused, as if she was the last person he had expected to see. To be fair to him, Katrina thought, it had been a long time and she wasn't the girl she used to be.

"Hello, Doctor," she said, looking back at him with the largest smile she could muster. It wasn't a very large smile, but it was genuine. "I'm sorry to turn up uninvited, but I just couldn't sleep."

Noticing the woman's demeanor, the Doctor paused, thinking for a moment before closing the distance between them and sitting down next to her on the Tardis floor.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, his attention entirely on her. Katrina's attention returned primarily to the stars as she dropped her smile and frowned into her cup of tea. Insomnia was almost as much of a bitch as depression… she had not expected anyone to even realize she was there, much less join her in her star gazing.

"I needed to put some things into perspective," the writer responded after a moment of thought. "Things I most definitely don't feel like sharing, but… the stars calm me. Your presence calms me. Being here in the Tardis again, it reminds me of all the things I used to love. All the passions I've lost over the years. Sure, it is human to change, and it is part of adulthood to leave things behind, but what happens when nothing new takes its place?" She sighed deeply.

"I feel like I've gotten lost in the void," Katrina admitted after another sip of tea. "Maybe, the reason I love space so much is because I feel like I can relate to it, if that makes sense. We are both so full and yet empty, filled with floating thoughts and stardust and dark matter…"

The Doctor thought for a moment, reaching up to fiddle with his bowtie a bit, maneuvering it into place. For a very brief moment, Katrina thought he might have slept in it, but it wasn't her place to comment. Not when she had been gone for so long.

"Sometimes," the Doctor finally replied, "nothing needs to take the place of the things you leave behind. At least, not immediately. You are correct, people do change… your problem, at least, in my opinion, is that you expect yourself to move on too quickly. Yes, you are human, and yes, your life is much shorter than mine, for example, but even if you are an adult, your life has only just begun. Give yourself time and you will find things that make you happy, that you love, that you can be passionate about. Give yourself time to make mistakes, to feel disappointments, to feel sadness and loss. We are the culmination of our experiences… every new adventure, each new feeling, it makes you a little bit more the person you were meant to be. You will find your balance with time… someday, you will look back on the you that you are now as the you that you will become and realize just how much you've grown. "

The Doctor reached down and took her hand, giving the appendage a gentle squeeze.

"But, for now, even if it's hard, try your best to find joy in the little things, whenever possible, and remember that your friends and family will always be there for you," he continued. "We will be there for you, whenever you need us. Isn't that right, Pond?"

Katrina startled a little, not having heard the ginger's approach, but calmed a little as Amy sat down and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. The real ginger pulled the artificial ginger's head down to rest on her own shoulder and the Doctor squeezed Katrina's hand just a little tighter.

"Absolutely," Amy said. "You and I both know that waiting is, from time to time, all you can really do, and that's okay. My waiting paid off eventually, and yours will too, I just know it."

The writer sighed a little and allowed herself to relax as much as she could, feeling the warmth of the two space travelers against her. The tangible sensation of not being alone helped, she believed, more than the two would ever know.

The three looked out into the Universe and, for Katrina, the void didn't feel so vast after all.