Sorry sorry sorry. Turns out you always have to check because when you don't check, you think you've published a chapter and your readers only get CSS code. Actually ff had the word count right so I'm not sure of what happened here. Anyway,

Chapter 13

In my mind, my conversation with Chloe happens as if we were two old friends reminishing over the old times over two pints of beer, and we're both laughing and making fun of these damned Time Lords.

Needless to say, it doesn't go like that.

At all.

"You should have this", she says, lifting a chain from her neck over her head. She drops the pendant in her hands, looking at it. "I don't even know why I still have it. It doesn't mean anything to me".

For an instant, my hands shake as she lays it in my hand, and I sit on the small bed beside her.

"Oh now, don't be ridiculous, it's just a copy". She adds, noticing my trembling fingers. "It doesn't do anything. It was just part of my disguise".

I twist the pendant in my hand, turning it to look at the back, the circly shapes I never really noticed, hidden under a great perception filter.

"How did you do that", I say, my voice low and grave. "Fool him".

She laughs.

"So many times, for so long", I add. "You're only human, how did you- I mean, just practically, how did you-".

"I'm a 51st century human, child", she interrupts me. "You might be a... hot, clever and smart Time Lord, but I always was and always will be a better human than you ever were".

"Evolution?", I ask.

"Oh, please. You were a measly end-of-the-second-millennium kid. Earth, humans, they were- they are, I should say- already changing right now. The changes humanity is going through these days... it all changes here, like our friend Jack used to say...".

"I'm not here for an anthropology lesson, Chloe. Just tell me. Telepathy?".

Again, she laughs. I am indeed relieved that she's gained her spirits back - suppose I still, somehow, care about her. But her attitude is still the most unnerving thing, so blatantly mocking and smug. I wonder if I have the same effect on people.

"Seriously, please. Did you... read through my mind?".

"What makes you think I want to answer your questions?", she says, suddenly spinning, dragging her legs up to the bed and folding them, her elbows lazingly resting on her knees.

"Why not?".

"I don't owe anything to you. You're the one in debt", she smiles.

"I- Chloe", I think about it, pondering my words. "You... I'm not here because I think you owe me anything. And I know I wouldn't exist without you, but... sometimes you can do things without anything in return, you know. Just saying", I kinda snort at her.

She looks away, her - my? - signature ironic grin still plastered on her face.

"I mean, even if nothing will happen if you answer my questions, what's the point in holding the answers? It's not like you have something to earn from hiding the truth, the Master's gone anyw-".

"Don't say his name", she hisses, suddenly scared, almost scratching my face to cover my lips, to stop me speaking. I wince at the contact with her skin. "I have a plan, I have a plan", she repeats.

"A plan? What plan?".

"They won't bring him back. They can't. He's evil, evil, evil".

I cautiously remove her hand from my face.

"Calm down", I quietly say. Why am I trying to comfort her? "Please, just please. Tell me if there's something I should know".

She laughs histerically, shaking me off.

"You're a Time Lord", she only says. "You already know".

"I know nothing", I admit. Maybe it's because I partly came from her, whatever. I can't say she's my enemy really, not when she's this defeated and broken, but she's still not any friendly. I don't know why I'm being so open, so willing to share my weaknesses with her. It's probably that she's the closest thing I have to a family.

"Then you will. Or you won't. They can't. They won't. I won't let them".

"Chloe, you're not making any sense. Who are you trying to stop? The Doctor?".

"They can't, they can't", she repeats.

Oh, my. She's not recovered. She's lost it.

I slap her out of it. She stops, surprised. "You need to be brave", she then says, seriously.

"That's what the Doctor used to say, the older Doctor".

"Bowties, him, yeah", she says. "I never really got along with him".

"He said he saved your life. That can still happen".

"Maybe he already did".

"Do you feel like your life has been saved?", I ask, incredulously. I mean. She's half crazy and in prison.

"I was saved", she repeats. "You don't know. You can't know. You're damned".

"Chloe".

"You're a Time Lord. You got it. I dread the day when that happens, but you can have him. You don't need to worry about me. I'm the copy now. I'm the image. You're out, living the life, and I'm the one who's trapped. I don't want to talk to you, it's in my right. I don't earn anything from hiding my tricks and how I knew how to get you and the Doctor in the right place at the right time, but I don't need to tell you either. I don't want to talk about it. This is my life now". It's impressive, how quickly she regained her senses and attitude back, how she shifts from complete nonsense to actual meaningful, angry words.

"What kind of life is this? You could have been a Time Agent, and now you're-".

"I know", she cuts me off, abruptly. "I could have had a normal, decent life. An adventurous life, even. But things went the way they went, and now I'm here. Stuck But still. it's better than the last year I spent out there, and there's nowhere I can go now. Even if you were to leave that door open", she nods at the cell door, "I wouldn't run. Where to?".

"That year wasn't easy for anyone", I say, shivering at the memory of my energies being drained by the Tardis. "And I'm not sure I could help, anyway, but if you help me I'd be more than willing to try to give you a second chance". I say this but I'm not sure I would. Half I'm trying to get her to talk with whatever means necessary, and half I'm probably sorry for her. It's not like she wasn't part of it, but I can understand how the Master's presence in her life could have been overwhelming. Forceful. Maybe he did brainwash her into doing things she didn't want to?

And, she laughs again.

"I don't want your help. I really wish you didn't visit. You Time Lords, you're a curse. I don't want anything to do with you. I'd rather rot the rest of my days in this ancient Earth prison surrounded by unevolved humans, than spend another minute with any of you", she says harshly.

I stand up, sadly. Now I, well, I don't know. I wanted answers, but really, now I'm just feeling sorry for her. I am... disappointed. I wanted her to be sharp and mean, I wanted someone to blame. But if there's any truth I learned here, is that I can't blame her.

"Goodbye, Chloe". I say.

"Goodbye. Oh, and good luck with those nasty headaches", she says, laughing, and it makes me shiver, but I act like I don't know what she's talking about because I don't want to show how much it hurts. I don't want to show her.

I walk the short distance to the bus stop as quickly, as if I'm running, even if nobody's seen me, and I just drop on a bench, exhaling loudly.

I honestly don't know what I was wishing for, coming here.

She's not my family, she's not.

If I have any family, it's got to be a chosen one. Like it used to be when I was human. Except I didn't get to choose then, but now I can. I'll choose the Doctor to be my family.

He says he feels responsible, that has to account for something.