Once she'd eaten, Farah stepped out for some fresh air. "Fay!" she heard their lodger call. She glanced back to see him exit the house.
"John", the ginger greeted back.
"You uh headed somewhere?" the Time Lord enquired, somewhat curious. He'd been hoping to have a conversation with Farah about the mark on her hand…what she'd seen etc, though if he had to be honest he wasn't too sure how best to broach the subject without blurting out the existence of aliens. The truth was more than likely going to make the young woman look at him as he were insane.
"Just going for a walk", Farah replied "to the ice rink". She wasn't going to skate. No, she was going to get some answers. She needed to know what happened.
"You skate?" the Doctor asked, falling in step with the empath.
"Ever since I was little", the 23 year old answered and started to walk "I um…want to thank you for earlier. For not saying about…" she tapped her still jumper covered hand.
"It's no problem", the Time Lord said.
"I had no idea what I was going to tell my mother so I really do appreciate it", Farah continued "I…" she trailed off, shaking her head. She couldn't very well tell him what she'd seen. For one thing she barely knew him and for another he would probably think she was crazy! And yet there was something…she couldn't quite put her finger on…but something about him made her want to trust him. It was a similar sort of feeling she got when she first met James all those months ago.
"What?" the Doctor questioned and the ginger just shook her head again.
"I-I can't", the ginger mumbled "it's a little nuts", she admitted.
"Well, now I'm curious", the Time Lord remarked, taking a seat on a nearby bench, patting the empty spot. The 23 year old sighed, taking a seat next to him. He patiently waited while the empath fiddled with the ends of her long hair, deciding what to say…how best to explain it. Farah sighed again, pushing her jumper back and exposing the mark.
"I thought it was a dream", she said quietly "and then I saw this", she held up her hand "I have never been so scared…" she whispered. The Doctor listened as she told him everything. "You must think I'm insane", she murmured as she finished, staring down at her lap not wanting to look at him for fear of what his reaction would be.
"I think insane would be missing that spaceship crashing into Big Ben", the Time Lord somewhat joked causing the ginger to glance up him in surprise.
"I nearly did miss it", she confessed "I was busy working and if it weren't for a customer, I wouldn't have seen it crash. The funny thing is, that's not what stuck in my mind that day".
"Oh?" the Doctor asked, curious.
"It was that missing girl. Rose…something", Farah had turned her gaze to the park across the street which meant she'd missed the expression on his face "I saw her with this man and I couldn't help but think that her family must be happy she was finally home" the 23 year old shook her head "I couldn't imagine just disappearing on my mother for a year", she murmured.
"Wasn't my finest moment", the Time Lord admitted, though it was too quiet for her to catch. He then blinked when a thought occurred "chocolate powder" earning a perplexed look from the empath "you had some on your cheek".
The Doctor was kicking himself for not realising it sooner. He'd seen this young woman before! Granted it was a for moment but come on! Ginger hair like that would've been hard to forget. She should've been hard to forget given how much Rose had teased him for getting distracted by a 'pretty red head'. Her words, not his. Time Lord did have to admit that for quite some time Farah lingered on his mind which earned him quite a bit of ribbing from the blonde. His twin hearts twisted at the thought of his former companion, her loss still too fresh in his mind.
"Yeah that was a little embarrassing…" Farah frowned, realising what he'd just said "wait, you were there? I didn't see you" the Doctor opened his mouth to say something when her phone chimed "One sec" the empath took out the device.
"What's wrong?" the Time Lord asked when she gasped and abruptly stood up, her hand gripping her phone so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.
"T-That…that…that arsehole!" the empath blurted out.
"Who's an arsehole, babe?" the object of her fury enquired. The ginger lifted her eyes from her device to Ben.
"You", she growled "How could you do this me?!" Farah shoved her phone in his face, forcing him to look at the photographs of his indiscretion.
"Farah I…I…" the young man stammered.
"I loved you!" she snapped "a-and all this time you've been cheating on me! You bastard!"
"Uh…what's going on?" James asked the Doctor having turned up in time to see a very pissed off Farah punch Ben across the face, knocking him to the pavement.
"Ben apparently cheated on her", the Time Lord answered "she got some photos on her phone". Despite only knowing the young woman for a short while, he felt angry that this 'Ben' had cheated on her. That human must have something wrong with him if he thought that he could do better than her.
"Well, that would do it", the dirty blond remarked and went over to his fuming friend "nice going slugger", he lightly commented, putting an arm around the ginger's shoulders "Now as for you…" he levelled a glare at the cheating git "you deserve a vacation in the deepest pit of hell for what you've done but I'll settle for never coming near Farah ever again is that understood?" Ben nods "good. No get lost!"
They all watched the young man scramble to his feet and scurry off with his tail between his legs. As soon as he was gone, Farah broke down in tears, all the fight having left her. James gently tugged her into a hug. "I loved him!" Farah cried, her voice muffled slightly by the fact that she had her face pressed into the young man's chest "How could he?"
"Well, you-know-who clearly doesn't have two brain cells to rub together", James sassed "if I were him, I'd never do something so foolish".
The ginger glanced up at him "really?" she sniffled.
"Really", the dirty blond confirmed, wiping a stray tear away from her cheek "if that were me, I'd never hurt you in any way shape or form. You'd be my one and only".
"Oh James", Farah sighed, resting her head against his chest "what would I do without you?"
"That's something you'll never have to find out", James assured her "now, you need some cheering up and I have just the thing". The ginger glanced up at him again, though this time rather quizzically.
~park~
The Doctor hung back while Farah and James skated ahead, laughing. After what happened earlier, it was nice to see the ginger happy. To be honest he was still seething at what that human had done.
The young woman did oblige his request to see the photos which made him even angrier. The object of Ben's affection was a vain creature indeed and certainly not what he'd deem worthy enough to leave Farah. It honestly astounded him that the ginger's ex had opted stray…he clearly didn't have any clue as to what he already had. If he knew what was giving up, he wouldn't have cheated in the first place. Humans….he really didn't understand them sometimes.
The Doctor supposed that while Farah was hurting, it meant that she was free. Free to find someone…his thoughts were interrupted when a cry reached his ears. Ahead of him, Farah clutched her wrist, staring down at her hand. Even from the distance he was at it would've been impossible to miss the mark on her hand for it was flaring with a red hue.
One of those…creatures was around and had decided to make the ginger its next 'meal'. Admittedly the Doctor knew it was a matter of time before one of them made an attempt for she'd clearly been marked by an Industria Lamia at one point.
Farah's wasn't going to die today. Not on his watch! He wasted no time closing the gap between himself and the pair. "We need to leave. Now", the Time Lord declared. The Doctor took hold of Farah's marked hand while James grabbed her other. Together they escorted the frightened 23 year old as fast as they could toward the exit of the park.
"Farah…" the ginger paled upon hearing a familiar voice. Suddenly she was yanked backwards, out of James and the Doctor's grasp.
"Farah!" the pair shouted as she disappeared into the unnatural fog that had rolled in. James yanked off his roller skates, swapping them for his own shoes before dashing off into the mist to find the ginger. The Doctor didn't hesitate to do the same, both fearing for the young woman's life. The 23 year old in question, was pushing herself into a sitting postion, hand going to her head.
"Farah…" came the voice again. Farah trembled as a figure appeared in the fog.
"Tanya?!" she cried, as she recognised who it was when it stepped through the thick cloud "oh thank goodness!" the ginger got to her feet, wobbling a little as she was still wearing skates "you didn't happen to see…" she trailed off and her eyes widened when the brunette's features temporarily shifted to that thing she'd seen at the ice rink. "It was you", she gasped "you tried to kill me at the rink!"
The reporter's features twisted into something that barely resembled the friendly human she'd pretended to be in all the time Farah had known her. Now she looked cruel and…evil. "Not quite. My brother was the one who tried to kill you at the ice rink", she corrected "George", she elaborated.
"Oh…" Farah murmured. She had no idea that the friend security guard was actually an alien in disguise. She really did need to start being more cautious didn't she? After all it wasn't the first time that aliens had cropped up what with those…pepper pots and metal men having tried to invade not so long ago. Oh and the spaceship that crashed into Big Ben too…
"My poor big brother", Tanya continued, breaking through her thougths "He was the best of our kind. He wanted to live in peace with you humans so he stuck to a diet of the sick and dying. It worked for a time but he was becoming weak. He needed something young…full of life and there you were" she moved closer to the empath, who was shaking with fear "All you had to do was die! But someone had to go and save you" she smirked "Not this time, little girl. This time I finish what he started".
"Yeah…no I don't think so!" Farah disagreed and took off into the fog.
The ginger blindly dashed along for she could barely see only a few inches in front of her face. The young woman was very tempted to call out for James but she quashed that impulse as she didn't want to risk Tanya…or whatever the hell she was…finding her. Farah's ears caught as strange sound, making her stop. What is that? she thought, straining to hear it. She couldn't be sure but it sounded like…singing? It sounded rather haunting and yet weirdly comforting. Without realising it, Farah was moving toward the mysterious melody.
The ginger yelped as she stumbled over an exposed root in her path, sending her sprawling. Incidentally, where she'd landed that strange song was loudest it had been since she'd started her search. Farah frowned when a golden glow caught her eye. "What is that?" she murmured, reaching out for it. Her frown deepened when her fingers closed around the source of the glow to find that it was a key! To make things more perplexing it was also what was making that singing too. Farah let out a small scream when she was grabbed from behind, the key slipping out of her hand.
The struggling woman was forcibly turned around to face Tanya in all her monstrous glory. "No where left to run Farah Galen", she states mockingly "time to die".
"No! No please!" Farah pleaded as the alien began to drain her life's 'essence'. Her pleads were all for naught as her former friend wasn't about to let her go. The ginger's eyes fluttered closed and her head drooped. Tanya smirked triumphantly. She was almost done ending the life of the one responsible for her brother's death! Plus getting a decent meal to boot. The alien's smirk faded when Farah's head lifted, her green eyes blazing brilliant gold. The 23 year old placed her hands on either side of the Industria Lamia's face.
Tanya started screaming her skin began to glow the gold like Farah's eyes but the empath didn't let go. The glow intensified until the 'reporter' exploded! The 23 year old was thrown backwards by the force. She slumped on the pavement, unconscious. The fog also disappeared revealing that both James and the Doctor were actually closer to her than they'd thought.
"Fay!" the dirty blond exclaimed, spotting her prone form. He rushed over to her and checked for a pulse.
"Is she…?" the Doctor tentatively asked, approaching the pair.
"She's alive", James replied, carefully cradling the prone ginger to his chest and the Time Lord let out a sigh in relief. "That's not all", the blond showed him Farah's hand. The mark was gone! "She's no longer marked for death", he added.
"Well, that's something", the Doctor remarked, glad to hear that she was no long in any danger…at least not from the Industria Lamia.
James picked up the unconscious ginger "come on Doctor, lets get her home", he stated. He started to walk off but faltered when he realised what he'd just said.
"How did you know my name?" the Time Lord enquired, falling in step with the man.
"It's…a long story", James admits "one I can't really tell you. It's um….timelines! Yes, timelines".
The Doctor hummed at his answer. He wanted to call him out on the lie…well, he was pretty sure the dirty blond was lying…but he decided to hold his tongue. Farah's wellbeing was a little more important at this moment in time. The truth about the dirty blond would come out sooner or later.