#what? yes of course me and your mother the tenth doctor are happy together. why do you ask?

[erisolkat]

bro i have internalized homophobia but for being a homestuck

[its-flicked-switch]

The One They Deserved

3.5K | William Arc | The Story We Deserved | Post-MS4

William emerges from the harbor.

I know I can't be the only fan out there who was deeply disappointed by how William's character arc was handled in S11! So, for those of you on team #notmyWilliam, stick with me — I got you. 

—

"And maybe what growing up really means is knowing that you don't have to be just a character, going whichever way the story says. It's knowing you could be the author instead."

― Ava Dellaira, Love Letters to the Dead

—

JACKSON

Returning to Wyoming was a decision made on a whim — an instinctual impulse. Because when battered and broken, animal instinct predominates, driving the incessant urge to return to a place of comfort and security.

When Jackson emerged from the harbor, he knew he needed to seek refuge somewhere far removed from Virginia. Returning to the place where it all began just seemed fitting somehow. Poetic almost. For the beginning was also the end.

Of all the places he has lived over the course of the last seventeen years, this is the only place Jackson has ever considered to be home. As he crouches down in the tall grass behind his former home, he becomes enthralled with how quickly and slowly time can pass in the same instance. Saying goodbye to his childhood home seems like something that happened a lifetime ago to someone else, yet it happened only yesterday, and it's strikingly familiar.

Having risen from the dead once before, he knows that not finding his body in the harbor will put his pursuers on edge. Only a fool would accept his death as fact without a body at this point, and those who pursue him are not fools. With that being said, coming here was a risk, but his lack of confidence in his ability to manipulate video feed and hide his identity in larger crowds kept him from attending his parents' funeral.

As a child, he always dreaded attending funerals, oftentimes begging to stay home or to sit outside because he found them to be too unbearably sad and uncomfortable. But now, having been kept from attending the funerals of those closest to him, he has a greater appreciation for their purpose. Funerals aren't for the dead. They are for the living. He understands that now.

The circumstances surrounding their deaths prevented him from seeing their bodies. He wasn't there to watch their caskets being lowered into the ground, nor was he ever able to return to their home in Virginia, where he would have certainly been faced with blood-spattered walls and silence. Any or all of those things would have helped to ground him into the reality that they were really gone, and that he would never see them again. Ultimately, that is what he hoped to gain by coming here — closure. But as he settles in the tall grass behind his childhood home, all he feels is sorrow.

The Van De Kamps' former home hasn't changed all that much in their absence. The new owners have painted, changed up the landscaping, and added on a garage, but overall, the rustic farmhouse where he spent the first twelve years of his life has remained relatively untouched by the passage of time.

Jackson wishes he could say the same.

His early childhood was happy, carefree, and uncomplicated. Although they didn't live in a standard neighborhood, other families lived within a reasonable walking distance. The Brooks family, who owned the land adjacent to theirs, had two boys around his age — Ben and Zak. The three of them spent nearly every waking hour together in the summers. Collectively, their families owned a little over 6,000 acres of land, which, in turn, gave them quite a bit of terrain to roam and raise the kind of hell that only little boys are capable of concocting. Their more notable transgressions included but were not limited to: hitting a baseball into a busy highway where it shattered the back window of a brand new four-door Chevy pickup, a magnifying glass mishap that escalated into the incidental burning of an entire wheat field, and poking a hibernating bear. Yes. You heard right. Poking an actual bear. Suffice it to say, the old saying 'don't poke the bear' holds an entirely different meaning to him now than it did before.

Poking of bears aside, the majority of his childhood, although interesting at times, was fairly unremarkable — until the day that it wasn't.

He was nine when it started.

Phase one came in the form of nightmares. Intense night terrors that propelled him out of his bed and sent him screaming into the night. Twice his parents found him in fields behind their home staring up into the sky with his heart racing, clothes soaked with sweat, and tears streaming down his face. When it occurred a second time, they installed latches at the top of all of the exterior doors, in fear that he would end up in the middle of the highway or in one of their irrigation wells before they could wake and calm him.

The doctors had assured his parents that it was only a phase, but when weeks turned into months and months turned into a year, it became apparent that what he was experiencing was more than just a phase. The drugs the doctors prescribed were successful in sedating him, but they did not curve the frequency, intensity, duration, or nature of his dreams.

Phase two began shortly after his tenth birthday. His hair and eyes had always been fair, but in January of 2011, he woke up to the reflection of a boy he didn't recognize. His blue eyes and sandy brown hair had disappeared overnight, transitioning into a deep charcoal brown. Nobody in the medical community had ever seen anything like it, nor could they explain how or why it had occurred. Test after test confirmed that he was healthy and otherwise unaffected, but a sense of unease filled their home nonetheless.

The night terrors and physical transformation each snapped something within him, unraveling him into a child no one recognized. Within a year, he transitioned from being the light-hearted, jokester with lots of friends into a fearful, shy, and awkward isolationist. It was as if he was a completely different person altogether — mentally and physically. The friendships he had developed within the first ten years of his life slowly dissolved. One by one, they all eased away until there was no one left. Then the bullying began.

First came the inquisitive stares and whispers, which were quickly followed by finely pointed questions that only rude children ask.

"What are you? Some kind of alien?"

It was fairly common knowledge that he was adopted, which only served to make matters worse.

"Jack wasn't born, he was hatched. That's why he can change his coloring like an iguana. What color will you make your hair and eyes tomorrow — Jack?"

"I hear that he hangs out in the fields a lot. He's probably waiting for the mothership."

The digs were endless, and he didn't cope with any of it well. At first, he cried a lot, but he learned very quickly that ten-year-old boys can't cry on playgrounds. Witnessed tears added a whole new layer to his misery. It was if he had opened Pandora's Box to hell.

Jerry Marriott was the worst of the bunch. He coined the name Alien Jack — AJ for short, and it stuck. Soon, nobody other than the teachers called him by his given name.

Thankfully, summer arrived, providing him with a much-needed reprieve from hell.

His parents had hoped that the summer would bring Ben and Zak back, but it didn't. When he wasn't helping his father on the farm, he would walk through the fields alone, which troubled his parents far more than it ever bothered him. The silence was far more favorable than the alternative. School had taught him that much.

Midsummer, his father returned home from an errand with a large box. Since it was the first time he had seen either of his parents genuinely smile in weeks, he knew immediately that whatever was in the mystery box was a much bigger deal than the new dirt bike they had given him for his birthday. They had been placating him for weeks. Making special meals, renting extra movies and video games …any and everything they could think of to try to lift the depressive fog that hung over him. But that day had been different, their smiles were confident and infectious, and when he opened the box, he understood why.

Inside the box was a small wiggling ball of energy. A chocolate lab puppy with large animated brown eyes and tan tipped paws. To this day, Jackson still refers to that moment as being the happiest moment of his life.

He named him Abe, after Abraham Lincoln, because he ended the period of misery and loneliness that had enslaved him by offering him true and unbridled friendship. For the first time in over a year, Jackson looked forward to getting up in the morning. His mood and overall outlook brightened considerably.

His mother's allergies had always prevented them from having pets, which was why Abe's sudden appearance had come as such a surprise. After his arrival, new kleenex boxes appeared in nearly every room. Her congestion and sneezing fits worsened as Abe aged, but she never once complained. Jackson never really thanked her enough for that. Kids are kind of assholes in that respect. They don't truly grasp the meaning of sacrifice.

Unfortunately, for his family, itchy, watery eyes, and nasal congestion would be on the low end of the totem pole in comparison to the sacrifices that would lie ahead.

Phase three was the most troubling for everyone except him. For him, phase three was the glorious redemption that typically only exists in a bullied preteen's dreams. It began with an excruciating headache and a low-grade fever that kept him in bed for nearly three days. When it waned, the world was different. He's since been asked by numerous medical and mental health professionals to describe it, and the best analogy he has been able to come up with is hibernation. When he woke up on that third day, he felt as if he had woken up for the very first time.

Initially, the difference was subtle — something he could sense but not entirely identify. As the days passed, however, the subtlety faded, and the awareness that he possessed unnatural abilities became more and more apparent. For example, he could gain access to people's innermost thoughts, secrets, and fears by merely making eye contact with them or by being in close proximity to them. He wouldn't call it mind-reading per se, because the information was far too pointed to be ramblings of the mind. No whispers, no visions… just infinite knowledge that would appear in his mind as if it had always been there. He would just know.

Ten-year-old boys aren't the coyest creatures on the planet, and Jackson had been no exception.

Returning to school following his summer reprieve had been difficult. The only thing that got him through each day was the knowledge that Abe would be sitting at the bus stop waiting for him, so the timing of his mysterious illness couldn't have been better… or worse, depending upon your perspective.

His ability to obtain sensitive information was a game-changer. As it turned out, Jerry Marriott had an irrational fear of clowns, slept with a night light and stuffed elephant named 'Snuffy,' and hated the father who abandoned him and his mother to go live with his boyfriend in Nevada.

It was at this juncture that Jackson's name transitioned from being Alien Jack to Alien Jackass.

While his tactics didn't win him any humanitarian of the year awards, it leveled the playing field and facilitated camaraderie. Jackson wasn't Jerry's only target. Lewis Weedin and Jessy Scott were also victims of Jerry's unrelenting treachery. Lewis ate every booger he could find, and Jessy rarely bathed properly, but they were both kind, troubled souls whose home lives were miserable. They made an awkward trio and didn't have a tremendous amount in common aside from their mutual hatred for Jerry. But the knowledge that Jessy's stepfather molested him and that Lewis's mother was a worthless drunk made Jackson all that much more determined to make their time at school more tolerable — and he did.

Exploitation worked for awhile. Instead of calling him names, tripping him in the halls, and smashing his lunch, his peers gave him a wide berth.

What Jackson hadn't anticipated was Jerry's resolve. Revealing Jerry's deepest secrets had taken the terror level down a few notches and given Jackson some breathing room, but beneath Jerry's seemingly calm and avoidant exterior, he was seething and biding his time. Alien Jack was child's play. Teasing him about being an alien, from Jerry's perspective, had always been just that — teasing. All in good fun.

Jerry kept his distance for months, leading Jackson to believe that it was over. It wasn't until Jerry ended up on his bus buddied up with Ben and Zak that he knew something was amiss, and he wasn't wrong.

It started as soon as the bus pulled away.

Abe had been waiting for him in his usual place with his body wiggling from head to toe in anticipation as the bus stopped.

"Nice dog, jackass."

Having already weaponized all the intel he had gathered from Jerry's psyche, there was little left for him to say that hadn't already been broadcasted. Ben and Zak remained silent at Jerry's side but looked rather pleased with themselves for acquiring a new and powerful friend. Abe, oblivious to their tone and intentions, had approached him with his typical after school enthusiasm — wiggling, jumping, and nudging along his side to be petted.

Jackson considered telling Jerry to bug off but thought better of it since he was still a good ten minutes away from home and outnumbered three to one. So instead of commenting, he regarded the three of them as if they were cockroaches and turned to walk away.

Neither he nor Abe saw the rock coming.

The jagged, medium-sized rock struck Abe in his hindquarters, causing him to stumble and yelp. The hurt, confused, and terrified look in Abe's sweet, gentle eyes filled Jackson with a sense of rage that he had never experienced before. And turning to find their snide, taunting smiles and hands filled with rocks only served to intensify that rage.

As he watched them chuckle and tauntingly toss the rocks up into the air, an eerie calm settled over him. In that moment, Jackson felt a lot of things but fear was not one of them.

"Time to see how fast you and your friend can run, jackass," Jerry said, giving Ben and Zak a slight nod before arching to hurl the second rock.

Abe, at this point, was no longer oblivious to their intentions and had begun to growl, but it didn't matter. Before the rock could leave Jerry's hand, he hit the ground — hard.

Ben and Zak immediately dropped their rocks and ran away in terror, leaving Jerry to gasp, sputter, and writhe around in the gravel along the side of the road alone.

Without batting an eye or taking a step in his direction, Jackson had sent Jerry hurling backward with such force that it knocked the wind out of him and broke three of his ribs.

"No," Jackson told him as he moved to stand over him, "you are the one who is going to run."

And Jerry did.

The jagged rock left a gash on Abe's hindquarters right along his hip that required several stitches. But true to his nature, Abe remained standing, wagging his tail and licking Jackson in the face as he knelt down, removed a layer of clothing, and cleaned up the wound as best he could before walking them both home.

The events that followed the bus stop brawl changed all of their lives forever. Within a year, Abe was gone, and his parents were forced to sell their farm, farmhouse, and a good portion of their possessions to avoid bankruptcy.

As he watches the sunset over the top of the trees, Jackson knows he has to get moving. He's already stayed longer than he intended, but it's taken more time than he anticipated to gather the courage to visit the very spot he traveled all this way to see. Rising from his obscured position in the tall grass along the tree line, he makes his way deeper into the woods that line the south side of the property.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he approaches the clearing where he and his father had laid his one and only true friend to rest. Getting down on his hands and knees, Jackson brushes aside layers of leaves until he finds the flat stone that marks Abe's resting place.

Abe was a true light. The year he spent with Abe was the happiest time of his life. Abe's eyes had always been gentle, loving, and hungry for adventure. Even after all of this time, Jackson can still feel the coldness of his nose, the sloppiness of his kisses, and the sharpness of his toenails. It's been nearly six years, but the emptiness, sorrow, and furry that filled him following Abe's death has never truly waned.

He doesn't stop the tears that stream down his face as he traces the outline of Abe's name chiseled into the stone. His tears aren't for just Abe. He can feel his parents here too. Abe's death took something out of all of them. It was like being struck by lightning: nothing was the same afterward.

In the years that followed their move, he allowed vengeance to drive and shape him, destroying everyone and everything around him. Being powerful is cool, until the day that it isn't. Now, as he kneels in half-frozen leaves overlooking a grave, he realizes that the one ability he longs for the most is one that he doesn't possess. He can't turn back time. If he could, he would rewind to the day he lost Abe with the knowledge that he has today. If he could do that, he wouldn't be kneeling over Abe's grave in the forest. He would be sitting at the kitchen table inside their farmhouse ordering graduation invitations with Abe snoring at his feet.

At the times of their deaths, he wasn't who they deserved.

Now, all that is left of them in this world are their graves and the imprints they've left on him.

His parents had been sweet, gentle, and loving people, who despite everything, never once resented him. They gave him everything they had, and in return, all he had given them was trouble and heartache. And Abe… Abe was just Abe. Always loving. Always happy. Always looking to him to lead, because where Jackson was — was exactly where Abe wanted to be.

Wiping at his tears, he makes a promise to each of them, one he should have made years ago. From this day forward, he's going to be the one they deserved. They may be gone, but they will not be lost for their imprints will now fall on him.

Moving the leaves back to cover Abe's resting place, Jackson blankets his one and only true friend with as much warmth as the environment will allow, comforted by the fact that he will no longer be buried there alone.

:

Moonlight guides him alongside the highway. The night is silent except for the distinct jingle of tags and clicking of nails against the asphalt. Should somebody happen upon him tonight, they will find a quick friend in a lively chocolate lab with tan tipped paws, a green collar, soulful eyes, and a smile that begs for adventure. What they won't see is a troubled teenage boy or a monster.

Cloaked in a true spirit of light, William heads due south in search of the man who is referred to in his visions only as Praise.

:

AN: This is a chapter from a larger work you find here. 

I'm not going to lie, this was an emotional chapter for me to write. In S11, we were introduced to a young man who was insanely powerful and a bit of an asshole. After 18 years of buildup, I expected more and was devastated that we didn't get it, which is why I made the decision to write a more William-centered story. His arc was important to me. There was a story there that wasn't told, and I'm determined to tell it. For those of you here strictly for the MSR, don't fret... without Mulder and Scully there are no X Files ;)

And, as always, a HUGE thank you to my betas @kikocrystalball​, @admiralty-xfd​, and @suilven19​ for their edits and encouragement… because nobody gets there alone ;)

[paigenotblank]

Accidentally Ours (3/7)

Pairing: Tenth Doctor x Rose Tyler

Rating: Teen

Written for a prompt for Ten x Rose kid fic/family fic where they adopt kids left orphans that they meet on their travels / and also a prompt for Ten x Rose with a mix of adopted and biological kids (@tinyconfusion​). Tagging @doctorroseprompts​ and @timepetalscollective​ which I think both had those prompts.

Trope: Accidental Baby Acquisition

Warnings: Kid Fic/ Baby Fic/ Pregnancy Fic

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7

AO3 / TS

Jackie had just finished setting the table when she heard the sound of the TARDIS materializing in Rose’s old bedroom. The Doctor stepped into the lounge carrying Melody against his chest and Rose was laughing at something that he’d said.

Jackie’s breath caught. She had never seen her daughter so happy and it was all thanks to that daft alien and the little girl he’d brought into their lives. Jackie could only pray that when they had to give the little girl back, the Doctor would help Rose get through it. And maybe one day, they’d have one of their own.

Rose waved and headed for the kitchen. “Hey, Mum. I’ll be right back.” She threw a grin over her shoulder and winked at the Doctor. His eyes softened and Jackie could see his love for Rose plain as day. She suspected she was worrying for nothing. If there is one thing she trusted, it was that the Doctor would always take care of Rose. She wiped at her eyes and plastered on her own smile. She cooed at Melody. “Oh, look how big she’s got. How old is she now?”

The Doctor lifted little Melody out of the carrier and handed her to Jackie. “17 weeks, 4 days, and completely brilliant. I'm sure she’ll be an early talker. She’s quite the babbler, she is.”

Jackie snorted. “Gets that from you.”

“Jackie…” The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.

Jackie rolled her eyes. “Just meant that babies mimic an’ if she’s babbling up a storm, it's because she’s imitatin’ you, ya plum. You could talk for England you could.”

“Oh, right.” The smile that broke out over the Doctor’s face tugged at Jackie’s heart. “Suppose she is.”

“Still callin’ you ‘Not-Mum?’”

He released a weary sigh. “Yeah. I think she’s doing it on purpose at this point.”

Jackie kissed Melody’s cheek. “Speakin’ of, where’d your mummy get to? Rose!”

Rose came out of the kitchen with three mugs of tea. “Sorry, Mum.” She pecked her mother on the cheek. “I made us cuppas.” Rose put the tea down on the coffee table and went to take the baby from Jackie. “Time for her feeding.”

Jackie held Melody tighter. “Oh, let me, Rose.”

Rose pulled a baby bottle out of the Doctor’s coat pocket. He warmed it up with the sonic and handed it to Jackie. “All yours.”

Rose picked up two of the mugs and handed one to the Doctor. He opened his arm to her and she snuggled into his side resting her head on his shoulder.

Jackie glanced at the two of them. “So you two got yourselves sorted then?”

“Mum!” “Yup!”

Rose looked at the Doctor in surprise, but it turned quickly to joy, and she nodded at her mum. “Yeah. We’re takin’ it slow, but...we’re officially together now.” Jackie noticed Rose’s light blush immediately.

“Well, if you two ever want a date night, I’m more than happy to watched her for you.”

Rose sat up. “What?”

“You heard me. I bet you two haven’t spent any time together, just the two of you.”

The Doctor tugged his ear. “Well, not…I mean when Melody’s napping or sleeping, but-”

“It’s the key to a healthy relationship.”

“When did you turn into ‘Ask Irma?’”

“Oh, hush. Bev’s got a subscription to Glamour. But it’s true. I remember what it was like, bein’ in a new relationship.”

The Doctor snorted. “What all of last year?”

Jackie narrowed her eyes and glared at him.

Rose swatted his chest. “Doctor! Rude.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, Jackie. How is Howard?”

“Still asking about his dressing gown.”

“Oh, erm, I’ll buy him a new one.”

Jackie rolled her eyes. “Nah. Was just kidding. I’m not seeing Howard anymore.”

Rose sat up in surprise. “Mum, you never said anything. What happened?”

“Nothing, sweetheart. Just one of those things.”

“Are-”

“Would you look at that? There’s still an hour ‘til dinner’s ready.” Jackie stood with the baby and began rubbing her back. “Why don’t the two of you go off on that date now?”

Rose looked at her mother in concern. “Now?”

“This little one’ll be ready for a nap soon and I don’t need that…” She nodded in the Doctor’s direction. “...one underfoot while I try an’ get everything on the table. You just make sure you get back in time. One hour, not next year.”

The Doctor whined, “It was one time.”

“All I’m saying is there better not be a second time.”

“There won’t be, Jackie.”

“Good.” Jackie nodded and Rose stared at her mother with her mouth hanging open. Jackie’s eyes narrowed at her daughter. “What?”

Rose shrugged. “Nothin’ just didn’t think you’d be that quick to believe ‘im is all.”

“Well, the last couple of months he’s been spot on in getting you here exactly when you said. An’ besides you’re the one that said it was the ship more ‘an anything. Would that crazy box do that to you two or Mel?”

“No. She wouldn’t.” She looked at the Doctor in anticipation and bit her lip. “You really want us to go now? It wasn’t just to stop me from prying about-”

Jackie sighed. “Just get back by dinner before I change my mind.”

“Thanks Mum!“ Rose hugged her mother and then rushed toward the TARDIS dragging the Doctor behind her.

--

The Doctor tapped his sock covered foot on the thin bench and let out a weary sigh. He shifted but his shackled wrist didn’t allow for too much movement. He pulled his knee closer and once again thought about all the ways he’d mucked up his and Rose’s first date. Okay, well, maybe it wasn’t their first date, since he’d been pretty much wooing her since they’d met. First official date as a proper couple. Well. It wasn’t even that as they’d been tons of places with Melody these past few months. First official date as a proper couple without a 17-week old chaperone. There. That’s what he’d ruined. He’d wanted to impress her and instead-

The slide of his cell door had the Doctor looking over his shoulder. “Rose!”

Rose leaned against the opening with her arms crossed and her lips twitching. She took in his slightly rumpled form. He was shoeless, tieless, coat and jacketless. His shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows and a thick, black-metal band around one of his wrists was tethered to the wall by an equally thick, black-metal chain. “You jus’ had to lick it.”

The Doctor stood up and faced her. He took a step forward. “How’d-” The chain attached to his arm pulled taut and he looked down as if he’d forgotten it was there.

Rose sighed and moved into the cell. She pulled the Doctor’s sonic out of her back pocket and opened the shackles to free him. He picked her up and lifted her off her feet with a big hug. Her laughter had him grinning. “Put me down, ya plum, we’ve gotta go.”

“But how?” The Doctor glanced nervously toward the corridor where he could just now see a guard standing sentinel.

“I negotiated your release.” Rose pointed down and wiggled her toes - her toes which he could see moving, because she also had shoeless feet.

“What? Where’re your shoes?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Luckily on this planet rubber soles are a hot commodity. Between mine and yours, I-”

He squeaked, “My chucks?”

“Like you don’t have 37 pairs of ‘em in all different colors sittin’ in the wardrobe room, 12 of which are identical to the ones I used to get you released. From prison.”

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck “Right, yes, of course, molto bene.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you. Really.”

Her heart skipped a beat at his crooked little grin. She laced their fingers together and led him from the cell. “At least I was able to get your coat and jacket back.”

The Doctor noticed them folded up in the guard’s arms and he grabbed his coat excitedly. “Top banana!” He shook it out and slipped his arms into it. “I love this coat. Did I ever tell you Janis Joplin gave me this coat?” The Doctor swung his arm over Rose’s shoulder and pulled her close. She shook her head and took his jacket from the guard as the Doctor started leading her down the hallway and out of the building. “It was 1969 in a tiny little town in upstate New York. White Lake, I think. Janis was organizing a game of poker in the lobby of a little ramshackle hotel and they needed another player.”

“An’ what were you doin’ in at a hotel in White Lake, New York?”

“Woodstock! I, er, just landed a few miles off course is all.”

Rose snorted. “That sounds about right.”

“Oi!”

“So poker…” Rose smiled with a hint of tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth. His eyes zeroed in on it.

The Doctor blinked a few times. “Huh?”

Rose cuddled into the Doctor’s side. “You were tellin’ me about how you got your coat.”

“Oh! Right. So, the TARDIS got the coordinates a little wrong for-”

“The TARDIS, huh?”

“The TARDIS got the coordinates wrong for Woodstock and I walked into this hotel where I could hear music playing. On a long couch in reception were three blokes playing guitars.” The Doctor rubbed his chin. “Not sure were Neil Young was.”

“Neil Young?”

“Hmm? Oh, he’d joined the band by then, but I only saw David, Stephen, and Graham.” At Rose’s blank look he added, “Crosby, Stills, and Nash.”

“Crosby, Stills, and Nash were playing a live concert at the hotel where you played poker with Janis Joplin?”

“Well, they weren’t performing so much as...practicing, or, er, jamming. Grooving?”

She laughed. “Only you, Doctor.”

“Anyway, in I walk and immediately Janis asks if I know how to play poker. I mean can you imagine, me not knowing how to-”

“Doctor.”

“So I join the game, but she looks at me and tells me she wasn’t drunk enough to deal with my outfit.”

“Your outfit?”

“It was my sixth incarnation and my style was a little...erm, brighter, shall we say?”

Rose slowed, the Doctor could almost see the wheels of her mind turning as she made connections, and then she bent over laughing. “The...the patchwork jacket...in the wardrobe room! You were wearing that weren’t you?”

The Doctor crossed his arms and pouted. “It’s not that funny.”

Rose wiped tears from her eyes. “She made you cover up didn’t she?”

The Doctor nodded once. And Rose broke out into giggles again.

“Rose!”

“Sorry. Sorry, but-”

“Her guitarist, nice bloke, Sam something or other, gave Janis his coat and she made me put it on. Told me to keep it.”

Rose rubbed the Doctor’s arm and they continued on to the TARDIS. “Well, I’m glad she did. It’s a great coat.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Mmhmm.”

The walked in silence until they finally made it back to the timeship. “Let’s go back to Mum’s. I’m starving.”

“I feel terrible for ruining our date. Chips and try again?”

“Sure. Sounds great.”

The Doctor kissed Rose soundly and then dashed to the console and danced around it, taking them into the vortex.

--

Rose and the Doctor meandered through sandstone arches and towering columns while munching on the hot, salty chips they’d picked up from their favorite chippy in the universe - the one right down the road from Jackie’s flat. He’d had to take them to 1974 so as not to run into her accidentally before enacting the rest of their date do-over.

They were happy to walk in silence, simply enjoying each other’s presence, and looking up at the soaring rock formations all around them.

The Doctor happily popped a greasy, fried potato into his mouth. “How’s this for a redo?”

Rose’s gaze narrowed in on the large, stingray-like creatures flying through the air above them. “You sure we’re not gonna have to make a run for it?”

“Nah, they’re not interested in us. They only eat bugs. Well, I say ‘bugs,’ but I really mean…,” the Doctor trailed off as he looked at Rose, distracted by the play of yellow, orange, and pink light over her face. It took his breath away, how stunning she was, eclipsing even the sunset that had just begun painting the sky. Really that was the reason he’d brought her here - known to have the most beautiful sunsets in the galaxy - and yet it paled in comparison to her.

Rose stopped and, seeing him slack-jawed, waited. “Bugs,” she prompted.

The Doctor snagged the last chip and took the empty paper cone from Rose’s hand, crumpling it and shoving it into his pocket.

“Oi!”

He rested his hands on her shoulders and peered intently into her eyes. “You know I love you, right?”

Her eyes grew round and she opened her mouth to answer, but the words were stuck in her throat.

“Rose?”

“Y-yeah, I know. I mean, you show me in so many ways. Everyday. It’s just sometimes I’d convinced myself- But I did...do know. Have to say...it’s incredibly nice to hear, though.”

“I love you,” and with that pronouncement, he gently cupped the back of her head and slowly lowered his lips to hers. She sighed into his mouth. After a few moments he pulled away and confessed, “Have done for a long time.”

She blinked at him a few times. “I love you, too.” A soft smile spread over her lips. “I have since about, oh, ‘forget me, Rose Tyler,’” she imitated his old accent.

“What?”

Her smile widened. “You know how to make an impression on a girl.”

“But you turned me down, the first time I asked you to come with me.”

“Not because I didn’t want to. I was just afraid by how much I did want to. I regretted saying, ‘no,’ immediately. Why do you think I ran to the TARDIS when you got back? I was so worried you’d disappear again.”

“I...I didn’t know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No. No regrets. You did come with me, and that’s the important thing.” He took her hand and started walking back toward the TARDIS. “I never dreamed...after the war, I just never dreamed…”

She squeezed his hand. Just minutes ago, she’d felt so tiny walking in the shadows of the lofty cliffs that made up the majority of the planet’s surface, but with the Doctor’s love in her heart, she felt like she could soar among the gliding giants in the sky.

They stopped near the TARDIS and watched the last rays of the sun before it dropped below the horizon. He pushed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. He exuded an air of nonchalance, but Rose knew him better than that. She watched as as he opened his mouth to ask her a question, but paused to take a deep breath. She affected the same casualness, and waited. She didn’t need to wait long.

“How long are you going to stay with me?”

Rose glanced at him and when he swung his head to look at her, she smiled and replied, “Forever.”

His answering grin had her blushing. She pulled his hand from his pocket and entwined their fingers, running her thumb along his.

“Then I’ll love you forever and a day.” He pulled her to his side and kissed her crown.

The Doctor abruptly released her and pulled her into the TARDIS.

Rose leaned back against the doors and watched as he frenziedly spun around the console to put them into the vortex.

Rose pushed off the door and sauntered up to the Doctor. He quirked his eyebrow at her.

She just smiled and ran her hand down his tie.

“I just vowed to stay with you forever.”

The Doctor swallowed thickly and nodded. “Yeah.”

Rose lifted her hand to the back of his neck and played with the short hairs at his nape. “And you vowed to love me for just as long.”

His lips twitched. “I did. I will.”

“Yeah?”

He pulled her body closer to his. “Are...are those the vows you wanted to hear?” He could see the hope in her eyes and feel her single human heart pounding against his chest. “Because I do, Rose. I. Do.”

Rose took a shaky breath. “Y-you know what we do on Earth after vows like that?”

“What?”

“Seal it with a kiss.” She was pulling him down before she even finished her sentence.

As soon as their lips met, there was a burst of passion and a flurry of hands pulling at clothes. They stumbled out of the control room and the Doctor thanked the TARDIS for moving his room to right off the corridor. He pushed Rose against the door as he fumbled with the handle. Her hands were everywhere, distracting him. Weren’t humans supposed to only have two? She managed to pull off his tie, unbutton his oxford, unzip his trousers and have him in hand in the blink of an eye.

He panted into her shoulder. What good was a respiratory bypass if it doesn’t kick in when he needs it? He moved one hand to her breast - the other was still trying to get the door open - and nibbled her neck. Finally, the door swung open and he grabbed Rose before she could tumble backwards. He swept her into his arms and kicked the door closed behind them.

It was quite some time before they made it back to Jackie’s.

--

Jackie looked Rose and the Doctor up and down when they got back to the flat and shook her head.

The Doctor glanced at Rose and then back to Jackie. “What? We made it back on time. Didn't we?”

Jackie snorted. “Jus’ thought the two of you’d go out on a proper date somewhere like a movie or a museum. I shoulda figured.”

Rose glanced from her mum to the Doctor and back again. “We did go on a date.”

Jackie snorted. The Doctor glared at her. “Who’s to say we didn’t?”

Jackie raised her eyebrow at her daughter.

“We did!”

“That why himself is wearin’ a different shirt and tie?”

“What? I...it's...we could've come across a jxploric spitting Helipontu and that’s why I needed to change.” The Doctor crossed his arms.

Jackie handed Melody off to the Doctor. “Mmhmm. An’ is that how Rose got a hickey too?”

Rose gasped and grabbed her neck while the Doctor sputtered, both of them blushing furiously.

“Hope you built up an appetite, dinner’s ready.”

--

After dinner, Jackie walked with the Doctor, Rose, and Melody back to Rose’s old room where the TARDIS was parked. “Oh! I forgot. Look at what we practiced.” She got Melody’s attention from her place in the Doctor’s arms. She pointed at Rose. “Who’s that?”

The baby gurgled happily, and the Doctor smiled. “Mummy. Very good Melly Belly.” He looked at Jackie. “She’s been calling Rose, ‘Mum,’ since the beginning.”

“Jus’ wait.” She pointed to herself. “And what’s my name?”

Melody babbled. The Doctor translated, “Nan. Well done, sweetheart.”

Jackie tapped the Doctor’s sleeve. “And who’s this?”

Melody giggled and the Doctor’s smile tightened. “Not-Mum.” She giggled again and the Doctor looked at Jackie in shock. “Dada. She said, ‘Dada!’”

The Doctor whooped and lifted Melody in the air. She squealed in delight and when he brought her back down, he gave her big, exaggerated kisses all over her face causing her to belly laugh.

The Doctor asked Jackie, “How?”

“I had a nice little chat with our girl.”

“But how’d you know she would? You don’t speak baby.”

Jackie’s only response was a smug grin.

He impulsively wrapped Jackie in a one armed hug, Melody babbling between them, and whispered, “Thank you.”

When he pulled away, he had glassy eyes, but the brightest smile she’d ever seen on him.

Rose was fighting her own tears. And so was Jackie, truth be told.

“I expect to see you three back here next Sunday.”

Rose kissed her mum on the cheek. “Of course.”

The Doctor walked his little family into the TARDIS and Jackie stood watching until it faded away.

[petersshirts]

To New Beginnings | Part 3

MASTERLIST || PART 1 || PART 2 ||

summary: a mental breakdown and a confession

words: 2722

a/n: part 3 is here guys!! it’s pretty long, please let me know what you think! love you x by the way, my requests are always open and if you ever need someone to talk to, just send me a message, I love talking to you guys x

„Y/N? Are you still there??“

You stared at the white stick in front of you, wishing for it to completely do it itself. It had been three weeks since the fateful night you and Tom had shared. You thought that it would be awkward, but it was the complete opposite due to Toms absence. He had a film project in the US for nearly two months and left two weeks ago. Since then, he had been calling you every night, asking how you were feeling. You always rolled your eyes at his constant questions because you knew that there was nothing happening in the first month.

But now your period was late for two weeks so you decided to buy a pregnancy test to confirm your hopes. And now you sat in your bathroom, too afraid to pee on the pregnancy test. You knew that Tom was getting annoyed on the phone, he had another scene to film.

„Yes, I’m here.“ You mumbled, still not able to get up. You drank four litres today and you really needed to pee, but your heart was not ready to face your fate.

„Did you do it?“ You shook your head but realised that he couldn’t even see it. „No, I feel so weird.“ Tom sighed. „Come on, Y/N, they are all waiting on me. I didn’t even say it was an emergency, I just ran offset! Don’t be such a baby.“ Now you were the one to sigh.

„I know, you’re right. Hold on.“ You put your phone on speaker and laid it somewhere safe to move to the toilet. You grabbed the little plastic cup you had specially bought for this occasion. After only a few seconds, you had enough pee and rushed to put the pregnancy test in there for a few seconds. The packaging said that you now had to wait for 5 minutes, so you grabbed your phone and the little white stick to go back to your living room.

„Okay, I did it. We have to wait now for five minutes.“ Anxiety was raising inside of you and you wished that Tom would be here beside you, experiencing this with you together. „I’m so excited, you have no idea!“ Tom literally yelled and you could only smile, still not believing that you were really doing it.

Sometimes you were still thinking about your night together. You still remembered his lips on yours and the soft touches between you two. He had been so gentle with you and you were sometimes even dreaming about it. Something was going wrong with your mind because you had always been best friends. Best friends that could possibly have a child together.

You were ripped out of your daydreams by Toms loud voice. „Is it showing something??“ You hadn’t even paid attention to the pregnancy test in your hand and when you looked up, there was a big fat plus.

Your eyes widened and there was a feeling in your stomach you could not describe. „O - oh my god.“ „WHAT? WHAT IS IT?“ Tom screamed at you like a maniac, but you couldn’t answer him, you were too shocked. There was a miracle growing in your stomach.

You finally found your voice back. „I’m - I’m pregnant, Tom. I mean, we’re pregnant.“ You breathed, not believing your own words. Tom yelled on the other side, making you grin.

„IM GONNA BE A FATHER!!“ You just listened to his shouts, completely overwhelmed by the situation. You wished you were with him, hugging him close and celebrating this together. Two friends, one baby.

This could go down a few different roads.

___________________________________________

It took a few minutes for Tom to calm down, but you could completely understand him. If he had been with you, you would have jumped around too, but since you were alone, there was no one to celebrate with. Sadly, Tom had to hang up only after a few minutes but he promised to call you right after he was finished with work. Not a lot of words came out of your mouth when he said bye, but you were still not comprehending what was going on. You were pregnant.

You would be a mum and have a little family together with your best friend who meant everything to you. When you sat there all on your own, you were not sure if you should call your sister and tell her about the good news, even if you wanted to desperately.

But you had read that the chances of a miscarriage were still very high at this point of your pregnancy and with Tom being famous, how could you tell everyone that you were finally getting a child? So you just sat there, with a stupid grin on your face, stroking your stomach softly. There was a living being inside of you and you would take care of it with everything you could do.

The rest of the day, you drank a lot of tea and read a lot about pregnancies online and looked up some useful tips for being a mother. You just could not wrap your head around it - after such a long time of always wanting to be a mother, you were finally going on this journey with a loved one.

Tom called you around three hours later. It was already getting dark outside but the two of you talked for a long time about what would happen next - first thing was an appointment at your gynaecologist Ms Roseville for the first screening. But Tom also went a lot further -

„Should we get a house or an apartment?“ You spit the tea out you had just drunk.

„A house?? We’ve agreed on living together but I can’t afford a house, Tom! That’s way too expensive!“ Tom sighed, knowing that you never wanted to spend so much money so there was nothing left anymore. On his side, he never had that problem before.

„Don’t you want the best for our child, love?“ Your heart fluttered when he called you by that nickname. Why did you get so emotional with so small things? Maybe it was just the hormones.

Now it was your turn to sigh. „Yes, of course, T, but a house is a really big investment. What if there’s a really huge fight and one of us leaves? I would like an apartment much better.“

„Why is my best friend such a pussy?“ You laughed out loud, hating his teasing. „Hey, take that back! I’m the one that’s carrying your child around!“

„Fine, fine. I will look around for any apartments around London. But we will talk about a house later.“

You just rolled your eyes, hating the stubbornness Tom always had.

„We will see.“

_______________________________________

Nausea and emotional breakdowns started to kick in in the tenth week. You had been to the doctor twice and everything looked very good; Ms Roseville told you that for the next checkup you would be able to see the real baby.

It still felt all too surreal to you-you were feeling completely fine and Tom was still away - he would be coming home in two weeks for a month until he had to leave again.

One morning, while you walked to the kitchen to grab a tea, your stomach suddenly did a somersault and you rushed to the bath to throw up. You hated throwing up and there was not even your mum, stroking your back and telling you that everything would just be fine. She was still unaware of your situation, living her peaceful life in Brighton, your hometown.

You threw up all morning, but you were too embarrassed to tell Tom how you were feeling - it was normal for a pregnancy and he shouldn’t worry about you while he was working.

But then it got even worse - you got horribly emotional. Nausea stopped at midday but when you sat down on the couch and started to watch a rom-com, you started to cry really, really badly.

You were a sucker for good romantic movies but the one you watched wasn’t even that sad, so that was - weird. You had to stop because your view was blocked from the tears. You started to walk around the house but because all you could think about was that you would get bigger and bigger with a baby growing inside you, you called Tom. You had been calling him a lot in the past few days but you needed his support. Even if you wished he was right here beside you, but that was just a wish.

„Hey Y/N, you alright?“ That’s how all your calls started - he was always worrying about you and you felt so special, happy that someone was constantly thinking about you.

You sniffed. „I - 'm fine, I just watched a rom-com on Netflix and now I’m a complete mess.“ You heard rustling on the other side, and then Toms' voice spoke up again. „Hey, it’s just a movie. Nothing like that will happen in real life, I’m right here.“ You started to cry even harder. He was right there, on the other side of the world.

„But it’s just so unfair - I don’t wanna be all alone here.“ You whined, completely out of your element. You had been living on your own for around ten years now and there had never been any problem with you spending a long period of time all by yourself. You liked it that way.

But oh, what hormones could do to you.

Tom sighed. He had been researching a lot about your pregnancy and he knew that you were in the phase where everything was just a bit dramatic and you would cry all day. He knew that you needed something or someone to hold.

„I think I’ve got a solution. Just wait for an hour, Y/N.“ And with that, he hangs up and left you, a little crying girl, alone. But just like he had said, there was a ring at your door just about half an hour later. When you opened the door, there were two familiar faces in front of you that you hadn’t seen in a long time.

„Haz! Leila!“ You hugged them both, overwhelmed again. Since Tom came into your life, there was always Harrison around him, so you became friends with him too. And when he met his wonderful girlfriend, you two were a pack, always together.

Friends are just the best.

The last two weeks where Tom was still filming in the US, Haz and Leila were with you all they could. You went to the park and they tried to distract you from the emotional wreck you were. You knew that Tom had already told them the big news right after you got them, but the two didn’t judge you. They were so happy and Haz believed that the two of you would be a couple once.

Maybe he wasn’t the only one imagining that.

_____________________________________________

You stood at the airport, with a big sign in your hand and a huge smile on your face. Tom was finally coming back home and you were so excited to finally have him back. It was hard to do this all alone - constantly thinking about the baby’s health. You were so happy that you had a partner to share this with; someone who would always help you and not let go, even if there was just a friendship between the two of you.

His flight was a bit delayed but you didn’t mind because it was the weekend. Finally, people started to fill the arrival hall and you stood on your tip toes, trying to find your best friend. You recognised a brown mop of curly hair and Tom finally came into your sight. He looked really tired due to his long flight but when he saw you, a smile replaced his frown. You had butterflies - no, more like bees in your stomach when he walked towards you with open arms. When he reached you, he pulled you close and you hugged him tightly, not ready to let him go anytime soon.

When you finally let go, his eyes wandered to your stomach, that was still as flat as it used to be. You could see his frown but caressed his shoulder slightly.

„It’s too early to see it, don’t worry. How was your flight?“

_______________________________________________________________

With Tom being back, everything came back into the right order. He spends most days and nights at your home, getting you everything you needed even if you were still able to do everything by yourself. And then it was time for your prenatal appointment - you saw your baby for the first time.

„Oh my god,“ Tom whispered, staring at the screen and pointed at it, even though you were focused on it as well. „That’s our child right there.“ You saw the tears in his eyes and the happiness. You had definitely made the right choice. Your heart pumped a few beats faster, but you were not sure if it was because of the baby on the screen or the happiest Tom you had ever seen. Maybe you knew it, but you would not tell anyone.

„He definitely has my nose,“ Tom said when you sat in the car on the way back home. You laughed at him, rolling your eyes. „Oh, it’s a he now? I think he has my belly button.“ You two laughed out loud, like the good old times. You looked at him, admiring his profile and his happy self.

„You’re staring.“ You blinked and looked out of the window, trying to find another occupation.

„But I don’t like to call the baby it - it sounds like it’s an object and not a human that’s gonna be in our life very soon.“ You nodded, understanding where he was coming from. „What if we give it an animal name, so it’s maybe a bit neutral?“ Toms' eyes were glowing while he thought about a name.

„What do you think of Bear?“

_______________________________________________

The evening was spent with the two of you on the couch watching one of your all-time favourites, the Notebook. You loved the passion in this movie and you also loved Ryan Gosling, so there was that. And with you being highly emotional again, you started crying after five minutes and you didn’t stop until the credits started.

Tom rubbed your back through the whole film, whispering sweet nothings in your ear. You smiled at his help and felt so happy again, that he was here with you. So, of course, you started crying again.

„Hey, what’s wrong love?“ Tom whispered, knowing that it was not the movie that was finally ending. He had seen that movie way too many times.

You sniffed, not daring to look into his eyes. „I just really missed you.“ You had always missed him when he was away, but how could it be so much worse?? Damn, this pregnancy had just started and you were not coping with it at all. This would b so much fun.

Tom hugged you from the side and pressed a light kiss on your forehead. „I missed you too, boo. It was weird leaving you all alone.“ You turned your head towards him and now he was so close, that you could feel his breath on your neck. Your eyes wandered to his lips even though your head was telling you that you were just friends just friends just fr - but it stopped completely when Tom pressed his lips on yours and pulled you even closer.

______________________________________________

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[gamerwoo]

Seokmin: Remember Me

Characters: Seokmin x reader

Genre/warnings: non idol au, angst, and terminal illness

Word count: 3,782

Summary: You and Seokmin were childhood friends; you did everything together. You always made him promise to never forget each other, even as you got older. Seokmin always made sure to keep his promise.

(Insp by this song)

“Never forget about me, okay?”

Your voice played in Seokmin’s head like a record as he stared across the room, out the window where the sky seemed too blue, and the sun seemed too bright and happy. He easily could recall the first time you’d ever said that to him, which would somehow become a weird catchphrase of yours.

The first time you said that to him was the day you met. You had just moved in across the street, and your parents urged you to go make friends with the boy playing in his front yard. Being only five, you were still wary. Your friends from back home seemed to forget you as soon as you told them you were leaving. But what did you expect from kids who could just as easily move from one toy to the newest one?

Your mom walked you across the street to the neighbor’s house, and up to the porch where Seokmin’s mom was watching him play in the yard. After quick introductions, his mom suggested you go introduce yourself to her son. Instead, you hid behind your mother’s leg.

He saw from the yard and made his way over to you, climbing up the steps behind you and tapping you on the shoulder. As you turned to face him with wide, nervous eyes, he smiled his wide grin at you that you would come to love.

“Hi!” he said cheerily. “My name is Seokmin, and I’m four years old!”

As he held out four fingers to you to show he knew exactly how many years old he was, you couldn’t help but giggle. “I’m ___, and I’m five.”

“You’re ooooold!” he teased, making you laugh again. That seemed to make him even happier. “Do you wanna come play with me?”

Eagerly, you nodded and let him lead you back to the yard where you played pretend together for a few hours under the watch of his mom. It wasn’t until the sun was just starting to set that your mother came back to get you and bring you home. But you were nervous to go home again. What if your new friend forgot about you just like your old friends back home?

“Say goodbye to your friend, ___.” your mom told you as she went to say thank you to Mrs.Lee for watching you.

You frowned and stared at the ground. This wasn’t unnoticed by Seokmin, who didn’t understand why you were suddenly so upset.

“What’s wrong?” he wondered.

You looked up at him, tears already forming in your eyes. “Never forget about me, okay?”

While he was only four and didn’t understand why you’d think he’d forget you, he just nodded and gave you a hug because that’s how his mom got him to feel better. Gladly, you hugged him back and sniffled to keep the tears from falling.

“Friends remember friends always.” he stated surely.

He pulled out his phone, now feeling in the mood to reminisce about your friendship. He went to his camera roll and found the album he was looking for. It was filled with pictures of you and him, or just you. One of his favorites was a picture he distinctly remembered his mom taking after he got the test results from the summer before fifth grade.

You were alone your first year of elementary school. Seokmin was a year younger than you, which meant you started school a year ahead of him. Sure, you were able to make friends, but you didn’t like any of them as much as you liked the boy across the street; you just weren’t as close with them.

One summer day, a few weeks before you had to start fifth grade, you were hanging out in Seokmin’s room while the two of you played video games. You decided his gaming console was much better than yours, so you typically found yourself at his house rather than vice versa.

“Did you ever get the results from that test?” you asked him suddenly, remembering that he was unable to hang out with you for almost a whole week.

He kept telling you he had to study for a “big test”. You didn’t understand why since it was the middle of the summer, but he just kept saying it was something important. Instead of pressing it, you just let him do whatever he had to do.

“Just don’t forget about me.” you had told him, half-joking.

He had laughed, rolling his eyes. “I know, I won’t.”

So then you just let him lock himself away in his room and study. When the day came for him to take the test, you and your mom brought him over good luck cupcakes, and Seokmin was the tensest you’d ever seen him.

“I think they come in the mail today.” he replied, pausing the game to get up. He opened his bedroom door and called out for his mom. “Did the results come in?”

“What was the test for again?” you wondered, putting your controller down and going over to him.

His mom came up the stairs, an open envelope in one hand, and the letter in the other. She mouthed the words as she read them, and you watched as Seokmin visibly tensed.

“We’re proud to inform you,” Seokmin’s mom began reading aloud, a smile forming on her face, “that Lee Seokmin has passed!”

As Seokmin and his mom began cheering and hugging each other, you were still clueless as to what was going on. Yes, you were still happy for him for passing whatever important test this was, but you didn’t even know what he passed. Passing whatever this was could’ve meant that he had to move away for all you knew.

Seokmin finally turned to you, his classic toothy grin on his face. “I get to skip fourth grade!”

“Huh?”

He laughed, pulling you in for a hug. “We get to be in the same grade now!”

Your arms wrapped around him as you hugged him tightly, his words finally sinking in. You’d finally have your best friend in class with you; you wouldn’t feel as alone.

“Wait,” you pulled away to study his face, “did you take this test just to be with me?”

“Duh!” he laughed loudly. “You’re my best friend, ___!”

You couldn’t help but pull him in for another tight hug, because that was truly the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for you. He studied so hard just so he could be in school with you, and that meant more to you than anything else.

He smiled at his phone, swiping a few more photos until he stopped at one on the last day of middle school. The two of you were in your uniforms and sitting in the sun, unaware that his mother was even in the parking lot to take the photo.

“I can’t believe we’re going into high school.” you sighed, staring up at the clouds as you and Seokmin laid down in the middle of the soccer field while you waited for his mom to pick the two of you up.

“I can’t believe you passed all your classes.” he chuckled, earning a jab in the side from you. “I’m proud of you, idiot.”

“Thanks, stupid.” you laughed, fixing your uniform as the wind blew softly. As your laughter died down, you turned serious, turning your head to the side to look at the boy next to you. “Can I ask you something?”

He turned his head to look back at you. “Yeah, of course.”

You played with your fingers shyly, hesitating before speaking. “Do you think we’ll still be friends in high school?”

Rolling his eyes, Seokmin scoffed. “Duh. I didn’t skip the fourth grade just to let us grow apart.”

You pushed yourself to sit up, looking around the empty field. “Yeah, but this is high school. There’ll be even more people, and there’s no guarantee we’ll get the same classes.”

“I know,” he sighed, sitting up beside you, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t make time for you.”

“What if you get cooler friends?”

“Anybody’s cooler than you.”

You frowned, but his smile and high laugh made it impossible for you to actually be upset with his words. “That was an easy shot and you know it.”

“That’s why I had to take it.” he giggled. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”

You let out a sigh, lightly punching his upper arm. “Okay. Just don’t forget about me, fathead.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, buttface.”

After that, he could see the steady decline in the pictures on his camera roll. He saw as your hair got thinner and thinner until you were just a bald head. He could see the light in your eyes get duller and duller as you got more tired. He could see every good day you had in between all the plain ones, and all the particularly bad days mixed in.

The two of you were in tenth grade when it happened. You’d been coughing a hell of a lot, and you were always feeling pretty sick. Your mom finally took you to a doctor but you kept the news from him for about a week. You were too afraid to tell him what happened.

No matter what, you two had always supported each other since getting into high school; even when things changed, you were there for each other. When you got into your first relationship,--which didn’t last very long--when he joined the track team, and even when he started going by DK instead of Seokmin. However, this one thing was something you just couldn’t tell him. You didn’t have the heart to.

It wasn’t until you showed up to gym class with a doctor’s note that Seokmin finally demanded you tell him what was going on. Something about you seemed off, your parents weren’t their usual cheery selves lately, and you kept going to the nurse in the middle of classes.

“___, something’s up with you.” he spoke up as you drove him home.

You two usually carpooled since he lived across the street anyway, and you were the first between the two of you to get your license.

“What do you mean?” you asked, clearly playing dumb.

He rolled his eyes. “Come on, you know exactly what I mean. What was that note today? Why were you benched? You love volleyball.”

“It’s nothing important.” you lied, waving his concern away.

“___, talk to me.” he begged, his sad eyes burning a hole in the side of your face. “Please. You always ask me to not forget about you, but it feels like you’re forgetting I’m your best friend because you’re not telling me anything lately.”

You stayed silent until you pulled into your driveway. When the car shut off, you let out a sigh and turned in your seat to face him. He waited patiently for you to say whatever it was that you had to say.

“...I was diagnosed with cancer.” you finally admitted, your voice barely above a whisper.

You could see on his face that his entire world had just slowly started to crumble. Never in a million years did he ever think this would happen to someone he loved so dearly. You were his best friend in the whole world, what was he supposed to do? Was there even anything he could do?

“Where?” he whispered, tears already forming in his brown eyes.

“Lungs...” you replied just as softly.

Instead of saying anything else, he just pulled you into the tightest hug he could, afraid that you’d somehow disappear if he let you go. It wasn’t going to be the last time he’d hug you like that, but it was the first time he’d hugged you like it was the last time he would ever have you in his arms.

“I love you, ___.” he told you, tears already sliding down his cheeks.

You buried your face in his shoulder, trying not to cry too. “I love you too, Seokmin.”

He finally reached the point in his camera roll where you no longer had hair on your head anymore. He remembered how much you cried when you had to shave your head, and how he promised he’d shave his head with you.

“No, you’ll look awful!” you sobbed, ripping the clippers away from his hand as the two of you stood in your bathroom. “I at least have a chance of pulling it off, but you’ll look like something out of a nightmare!”

He just laughed at how you were still able to tease him even though you were crying so hard you were shaking. He pulled you into his arms, letting your tears soak into his sweatshirt without any thought of it. He rubbed your back, and stroked your soft hair for the last time.

“Don’t cry, ___.” he cooed, pressing a kiss to your temple.

“This just makes it seem so real now...” you mumbled, your blubbering muted by his shoulder. “I’m scared, Seokmin.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be here for you the whole time. No matter what.”

“Even if I look like an egg?”

He chuckled but nodded. “You already do, so yeah.”

You whacked his chest playfully and pulled away, wiping the tears from your face. As you looked up at him with red, puffy eyes, he still smiled his signature smile at you, his eyes the crescent moons that you had grown familiar with.

“Ready?” he asked as you handed him the clippers again.

You nodded, taking a deep breath. “Yeah.”

He pressed a kiss to the tip of your nose before he spun you around. He set the clippers on the counter and picked up the scissors first, deciding to cut your hair so it wasn’t as long.

“Promise me that you won’t take pictures of me with the shit haircut you’re about to give me.” you joked.

He laughed and nodded even though you couldn’t see. “Even though this is the one time I can completely ruin your hair, even if it’s only for a second...I promise.”

After he had shortened your hair enough, he set down the scissors and picked the clippers up, turning them on. The noise made you tense, but Seokmin rested a hand on your shoulder. As you covered your face, he started to get rid of the rest of your hair.

Once it was all done, he had you sit on the couch while he cleaned up the hair. You refused to look at yourself, so you just stared straight ahead at the TV and tried to avoid looking at anything that could possibly be remotely reflective.

Seokmin came and sat down beside you, wrapping you in his arms. “Not to sound cheesy, but...you’re still the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met.”

“Thanks, Seokmin.” you sighed, resting your head against his chest.

The next picture he came across was from a memory he remembered more fondly than the last couple. It was of the two of you before prom, where you sat in a wheelchair to save your energy, and he stood behind you while his mom kept yelling at him to not pop wheelies with the chair.

You kept insisting that he totally did on the dance floor, though.

Even though you were too tired, and becoming too weak, you still had the best time. He made sure you were the only one he paid attention to, and he always made sure you were laughing, smiling, and enjoying yourself. He’d hold your hands while he danced around you and spun you around in the chair--and yes, he definitely did make you do a couple wheelies which made you squeal.

But then a slow song came on and you looked up at him. A few strands of hair had fallen out of the up-do your wig was put in but you still looked absolutely stunning. It reminded him of when he initially asked you to prom. You walked down the hall through the path of people who all handed you orange-colored roses--those were your favorite--until you got to him, where he serenaded you with your favorite song--thanks to Jihoon who had hooked up the speakers. Then he handed you a giant bouquet of roses and asked you, and of course, you cried and said yes.

You held your hands up to Seokmin, which pulled him from his thoughts. “Help me up.”

“What?” he asked, although he was already reaching under your arms.

“It’s prom, idiot,” you chuckled, “so I’m going to properly dance with my date.”

You put your arms around his shoulders, pressing your body against his. He held you up with his arms around your waist and gently swayed the two of you side to side, smiling to himself. God, did you become more stubborn after getting sick. Your mom told you to stay in the wheelchair but that wasn’t cutting it for you.

“Shouldn’t you listen to your mom, dummy?” he questioned.

“I’m older than you, so you can’t do anything about it, Donkey Kong.” you quipped, making him erupt into laughter that vibrated against your chest with how close you were to him.

“Fine, but I’m letting go after this song, and if you fall, it’s not my problem.” he teased.

“But you’re picking my ass back up for the next slow song.”

“Alright, deal.”

The two of you danced in silence, simply listening to the music for a while. His arms felt strong around you, being 70% of the reason you were even standing. But you were determined to stay upright to dance with him, even if it was the last thing you did.

“I’m so glad I met you that day.” you told him out of nowhere.

“What makes you say that?” he wondered.

“Who else would put up with me for this long?” you chuckled, your cheek resting against his chest. “I can’t believe I met you when I was five, and now we’re almost out of high school.”

“I never forgot about you.” he grinned, tilting his head down to look at you.

The two of you stared at each other for what felt like forever until suddenly, Seokmin pressed his lips to yours. It was a soft, sweet kiss that lasted a few seconds before he pulled away.

“What was that for?” you asked, already a little breathless--although that was partly because you were just tired.

He grinned his bright smile that you loved so much. “Just to let you know I never will forget you.”

His doorbell rang out, causing him to look away from his phone. He sighed but got up and went to answer the door. Upon opening, he saw it was Seungcheol, a bright smile on his face.

“It’s 3:30.” he announced.

Wow, did the time really go by that fast?

“Let’s go.” Seokmin nodded, exiting his house with his friend.

As he went to get into the car, he looked across the street at your house. No cars were in the driveway, and all of the lights were off. It was usually like that during the day. Only for about an hour or two at night were the lights ever on in your house, but never in your room.

Seokmin got into the car and buckled himself up, preparing for the half hour drive to his destination. He never did end up getting his license since he was so focused on being with you, but Seungcheol never minded bringing him for his 4 o’clock visits every Tuesday and Thursday. On weekends, his parents would bring him, or your mom would.

As the two boys drove in silence--the only sound was the radio playing lowly as background noise--he thought back to the last time he’d actually ever seen you walking. It was for graduation, and you asked him to push your wheelchair across the stage to accept your diploma. However, when he got you onto the stage, you pushed yourself up from the chair.

“What’re you doing?” he asked you in a panic, afraid you’d hurt yourself.

“Please just help me.” you pleaded, knowing you wouldn’t be able to make it by yourself. “I only get to graduate high school once, and I wanted to do it myself. Since I can’t, I’d at least rather do it with my best friend and not some metal chair.”

That’s all he needed to know. He left the chair behind and put an arm securely around your waist, the other holding onto your hand. He led you over to collect your diploma as the crowd stood for you and cheered. Seokmin had to try so hard not to start sobbing.

You let him hold your diploma while you shook hands with everyone on the stage, and then he helped you off the stage. One of the teachers retrieved your wheelchair, and Seokmin helped you back into it before bringing you back to your seat.

After that, you were always in a wheelchair. You had to wear a face mask because your immune system was awful, and you slept more hours of the day than you were awake. Eventually, you just ended up in a bed, and now you couldn’t even stay home anymore.

Seungcheol pulled up to the hospital and unlocked the doors, allowing Seokmin to get out of the car.

“Tell ___ I said hi.” he smiled before he drove off, leaving Seokmin on the curb.

Seokmin did his usual routine: he went inside, said hello to the women at the desk, and took the elevator up to your floor. He didn’t expect your parents to be there since it was a weekday, so your room was empty when he got to it. You were laying in bed like you were the last time he saw you. He could never tell if you were awake or asleep since you never opened your eyes anymore, and you couldn’t even talk anymore. It all took too much out of you.

The sight of you upset him more than anything. His bright and lively best friend was stuck in bed and couldn’t do anything for herself anymore. You were helpless, and things only seemed to be getting worse and worse. He couldn’t imagine a life without you, but he couldn’t think of that right now. He had to be with you while he still could.

“Hey, beautiful.” he smiled, closing the door before walking over to sit beside your bed. He held your hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss the back of it softly. “It’s 4 o’clock. I didn’t forget about you. I never will, no matter what. I promise, I won’t.”

[literallyprentissstwin]

Another Moment - Part 10 (Final)

you can find all the parts of this story on my masterlist. 

A/N: wow, i´m really sorry it took me so so long to put the tenth & final part of this story up. idk but i had no time & no motivation, but today, my motivation returned and i finally wanted to give my little sienna & our babe luke a proper end. i´m really sad that my series is over then :( i really hope you enjoyed it as much as i did. please leave me some feedback, i would highly appreciate it. 

Warnings: not really, just some talking about kidnapping, hurt/comfort & the general angst (if you know me, angst is my babe), & also beware: there will be a tiny little bit of fluff lol. 

i´m really sorry that this has gotten so so long. cheers to you if you read it till the end. 

“Luke, it´s barely been an hour. Give her some rest.”

Sienna heard someone say as she slowly started to wake up. 

Matt. The voice belonged to her father´s best friend. 

“I know..but..I just need to see her..you know?”

Her Dad, worried as always. It´s then that she felt that someone was holding her hand. She decided to give it a tiny squeeze to show that she´s indeed awake. 

“What..”, she heard her Dad stutter and in that moment, Sienna slowly started to open her eyes. 

“Hey, look who´s back.”, Matt said, a bright smile spreading on his face.

“Hey, Baby Girl.”, Luke greeted his daughter, relieved. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Sienna smiled a little and whispered a quick “Hi” before she looked around the room and saw that the rest of her father´s team was there as well. 

“How are you feeling?”, Luke asked, concern lacing on his face. 

“I´m okay..but what happened?”, Sienna replied, confused. It wasn´t that she didn´t remember what had happened, how could she ever forget that? It was more like that she didn´t remember to be this injured that she had to stay in a hospital, again. 

“Don´t worry. You´re not hurt, at least not that bad that you need to stay here.”, Matt answered as if he could have read the girls mind.

“You kind of passed out at the crime scene though because of your lack of food and water. Also, you´ve got a mild concussion and a few bruised ribs.”, Luke continued. 

“Sounds fun! When can I go home?”, Sienna wondered as she sat up more. 

“The doctors want to discharge you later today.”, Luke said. This was so typical for his daughter, but who could blame her? She actually has been in enough hospitals the last few weeks. 

“Great, they better hurry because I can´t stand to be in her any longer plus this bed is pretty uncomfortable.”, the teenager hissed which made the team laugh.  After a few seconds, Emily decided that it was now or never that they had to talk about what had happened. She hated to be the one to break the good mood, but it was the job. 

“Sienna, I´m really sorry for bringing this up again, but to close the case, we have..”, the Unit Chief started, but got interrupted by the young girl. 

“You need to know what happened, I know.”, she sighed. 

“Yeah, I´m sorry for this. I really wish there would be another way of doing this.”, Emily said as she grabbed a chair and put it close to Sienna and next to Luke´s.  Sienna just nodded and took a deep breath before she began explaining. The rest of the team decided to give the girl some space and therefore decided to go back to the station and see what Scott had to say. 

“So, after this..fight Dad and I had back in Quantico, I needed to get out, away from everything. I needed to go to somewhere quiet and peaceful, so I went to visit my Mom´s grave. I took the bus to McLean and arriving there, I headed straight to the cementry. I talked to Mom, I let out all my anger about this stupid Detective at the police station. I just ranted and ranted. I don´t know how long I´ve been sitting there, but I lost track of time and it got dark. When I checked my phone I saw all the messages and calls from you guys and I started to feel bad. I didn´t want you to worry. That´s why I started typing this text to you, Dad. I guess, it never got through.”, Sienna said and sat up even more while her Dad moved closer to her bed. 

“What happened next?”, Matt asked. 

“I-I don´t know. It all went by so quick. Like one minute, I was texting Dad, then the other, I heard noises behind me. It kind of scared me so I wanted to get going. This was when Scott grabbed me from behind. He put that cloth full of chloroform onto my mouth. I tried to fight him off, but guess he was too strong and the chloroform had already kicked in. I passed out and the next thing I remember is waking up, tied to this chair.”, and again Sienna needed to stop talking. The three agents noticed how nervous and panicked she had gotten and it hurt them more than anything to have her going through this again. 

“You´re doing good, Sienna. We´re almost done. What is the next thing that happened?”, Prentiss tried to reassure the young girl. 

“He told me about his wife he had lost and his daughter. He seemed totally out of it while talking. Then he wanted to know why I hate him so much and that he just wants to be there for me. He said that he could take better care of me than my FBI-Dad, because Dad wouldn´t actual care a bit about me. I got so angry and screamed at him. Then he left, but came back shortly afterwards. He talked some confusing stuff and during this, I tried to free myself. The next time he left, I ran for the phone and called you. After I hung up with you, he came back and I got really mad. I-I just wanted to know why he had to kill Mom. I-I..”, Sienna started to sob, her fragile frame shaking violently. 

“Hey, it´s okay. You´re safe. I´ve got you.”, Luke tried to soothe his scared daughter. 

“H-He said he needed to kill her b-because she wanted to break up with him. M-Mom wanted to move over to Quantico, so we all could live closer together. H-He killed her because h-he couldn´t accept that she started to believe me, that I still was her number 1 priority. H-He killed her because of me.”, and with this, Sienna broke down, sobbing and screaming for her dead mother. An innocent life which  had been taken by a maniac, all because of her. 

If Emily´s, Luke´s and Matt´s heart hadn´t been broken before, it would be now. It hurt them to see that Sienna was blaming herself for everything. 

Luke was trying his best to calm Sienna down, but eventually, she drifted off into sleep from exhaustion and crying. Matt and Emily decided that they heard and had enough and after making sure Luke and Sienna had everything they needed for now, the both of them also left to close this case with the rest of the team.

“Hey, you´re awake again.”, Luke said a few hours later as Sienna opened her eyes, looking around in confusion. 

“Oh, don´t worry. Emily and Matt went back to the station a few hours back to handle everything. It´s over, for real.”, Luke continued talking as he walked closer to Sienna´s bed. 

“What´s gonna happen now?”, the girl asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“We´re going home. The team is on its way here right now. I already signed your discharge papers and..”

“What about Scott?”

“He´ll get what he deserves. We made sure of it. He´ll rot in prison and will probably never leave this place again.”

“I´m sorry, Dad.”, Sienna murmured as she quickly looked down. 

“Sunshinne, look at me.”, Luke demanded as he took Sienna´s hands in his, “nothing of what happened to you and Mom is your fault, okay? It was completley out of your hands. He did it, he decided to do it, not you. You knew that something was off, you warned her, but there wasn´t much you could have continued doing. So please don´t blame yourself for something which wasn´t your choice, okay? Scott isn´t worth your tears and thoughts. He´ll rot in prison, that´s where he belongs. You can start and try to move on, but you need to believe first that non of this was your fault.”

“But..”, Sienna started, but her Dad interrupted her. 

“No..no “but´s”. It´s not your fault. You need to believe this in order to move on.”

“What if I can´t?”

“Then I´ll tell you the truth over and over again until you believe me.”, Luke said, a small smile playing on his lips, which also made Sienna smile. 

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, Princess. I´m so proud of you and I´ll be here for you, every step of the way.”, Luke assured her and embraced his daughter in a soft hug. After some time, they broke apart and Sienna looked up to her Dad. 

“What is it?”, he asked. 

“Before we go home, could we maybe do one last stop?”, Sienna wanted to know which earned a confused look form her Dad, but little did he know where she wanted to go to. 

“Anything for you, Princess.”

It´s been 4 months since Sienna and Luke left McLean together, after taking a quick stop at the grave of Sienna´s Mom on their way home. It was Sienna´s wy of finding closure. 

The past 4 months have been a rollercoaster ride - happy moments, scarry and sad moments filled with nightmares and a lot of crying. Yes, life hasn´t been easy for the girl. Just when things started to get better, something happened and pulled Sienna back in her hole. The process against Scott had been the most difficult part of the rollercoaster ride. But gladly, Sienna hadn´t have to do it alone. She had her Dad and his team and she was more than thankful for them. 

After the process, things started to actually work out for Luke and Sienna and they couldn´t be happier. Of course, it still hurt to think about it, but pain only makes people stronger, at leasts that what they say, and if there is one thing Sienna had learned over the past few weeks, than that it´s okay to feel, it´s okay to hurt, but it´s never okay to give up and stop fighting. 

Yes, life could be difficult sometimes and it isn´t always that peachy, but life´s worth living and after all, it´s what Sienna deserved. A happy life with people who care about her, not only down here but also up there. 

In another moment, Sienna would have argued about this, but right now, this seemed to be enough for her. 

THE END. 

[ @dontshootmespence @veroinnumera @sam-carter-in-training @princesswagger14 @tenaciousarcadeexpert @ultrarebelheart @illegalcerebral @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @marvelfanlife @butsomeofusarelookingatthestars @crimindsaspe @the-criminal-soldier @ssaunitchief @lookwhatyoumademequeue @sweater-vest-reid @crimeshowtrash @iammostdefinitelyonfire26 @poppyreid @acespence @jennferjareau @docspencerreid @spencerreidreads @idkbutspencer ]

[psychokai1972]

The Boss - Part 2

The Boss- Masterlist

Part 1

CEO!Sebastian Stan x CEO!Reader

Word Count: 2441

Summary: Y/N and Sebastian are co-CEOs of a successful company. Their relationship is not the best. It’s more a competition than anything. But eventually they’ll have to learn to cope with each other.

“He didn’t know how to do things.” That was it, that was Derek Hanlon’s argument. He was one of the company’s main assholes. The man thought that just because he was in a higher range than some of the other employees, he could do whatever he wanted. That and the fact that he had a penis. He thought it gave him power.

“Listen to me.” Y/N rose from her big comfortable chair, leaving the papers carefully on the desk. “That kid ended the university with very high marks. If I decided to hire him here, is because of some reason; and you just fired him, without even asking me or Sebastian first, the CEOs. You know what that means? I means that WE rule the company. WE make those kind of decisions around here, not you; Derek you don’t have the power to do such thing.” 

The man standing just a few meters away from her, looked at her with hate. He was the kind of man that didn’t want a woman to be in charge. Y/N was more that sure that he voted for Trump.

“And of course he doesn’t know how to do things, he’s been here for only one week. I bet it took you several months to at least do a decent job.” Her words made his blood boil; if only she was any other person, he would have lost his temper already. “Now, you call that boy and tell him he has his job back.” The woman sat on her black chair again, returning to her paper work.

“Yes ma’am.” Were the only words that came out of Derek’s mouth. Full of anger and resentment, something that she definitely noticed.Y/N was not stupid, she knew perfectly that she wasn’t the man’s favorite person.

“Hanlon.” The man, that was already making his way towards the door, turned to look at her and waited for the words to come out of her lips. “I haven’t fired you because you are good at your job. But believe me, my greatest desire is to fire you. So, you do anything like that again, and you’re out. I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there better than you and more polite. You can always be replaced.” Her eyes never leaving the papers.

She smiled to herself when she heard the hard sound of the door closing. She managed to get under his skin. Y/N wasn’t usually an asshole with her employees, but there was one exception for her to act like that: if they deserved it.

“I need you to take this to the guys on the tenth floor. They’ll know what to do with it.” Y/N handed Aaron the folders. Just when he was about to open the door and leave, Sebastian entered the room.

“What the hell?” The words fell so easily from the romanian’s mouth. Aaron dodged him and his annoyed expression and headed for his destination: the tenth floor.

“Sebastian, what are you doing here?” Y/N closed her laptop, resting her head on her hands.

“Derek Hanlon went to see me.” He pulled his hands out of his pockets and rested them on the desk, grabbing it’s border so hard that his knuckles were turning white. 

“Oh, so mommy wasn’t having it so he went running to daddy. In hope of a saving.” A little smile was playing on Y/N’s face.

“ You threatened to fire him?”  His hard gaze on her own was so penetrating, that she was feeling a little intimidated. But she wouldn’t let it be seen.

“Well, what else did you expect me to do? He is an asshole and don’t try to argue that with me, we both know it; and he fired someone, without even asking. Doesn’t that bother you?That he walks around this place like he owned it?” Y/N stood from the chair, walking closer to Sebastian. Positioning herself beside him; resting her butt on the desk, not fully siting on it.

“You have to talk to me before you do this, Y/N.” Sebastian’s face turned to hers, finding a frowned expression.

“Since when?” She lifted her left hand, resting it on her lap. “I have to talk to you when I want to fire someone so you agree too, and so do you. But I didn’t fire him, I just  gave him a warning.” The handsome man beside her clenched his jaw, knowing that she was right.

“ Just announce me when you do things like that, ok? So I’m not so surprised when they come running to ‘daddy’ .” His face softened.

“Alright.” Y/N’s phone started ringing , making both Sebastian’s and Y/N’s eyes look towards it. It was her gynecologist. “Sorry, could you leave please? Personal stuff” The dark haired man just nodded and left the office, heading for his own.

“Good morning, Y/N. I have wonderful news for you.” She could already feel her lips forming into a beautiful smile.

“Really? It worked?” Her hand went to her chest, her heart was beating fast.

“Yes it worked.” She could feel tears running down her cheeks. “Mind coming at 2 p.m over here. It’s just to fill in some papers and also to meet him, if you don’t mind.”

“No,no, absolutely, I’ll be there. See you later Ciara.” 

“Bye Y/N.” The gynecologist hanged up. Leaving an excited Y/N in her office, dancing at the beat of a non existent song. Just a little happy dance. 

Now she finally got what she wanted.

Waiting for her gynecologist, Y/N saw papers on her desk. At the top, her own file and there was another one under it; she could see the ending of a number.

“0045″ Y/N whispered to herself. It was the unknown man’s number. She memorized it at the moment she had to choose. Y/N was having the urge to take a look at his paper; she wanted to know his face and his name, even though she was minutes away from meeting him.

The sound of the door closing at her back surprised her and made her jump. Y/N turned around, seeing Ciara, her gynecologist smiling at her.

“Snooping?”Ciara took a seat at the other side of the desk, hiding his file from her eyes.

“Just a little nervous. I’m kind of curious of who he is, you know?Like It would be totally ok for me if you just showed me his picture and name; and there would be no need of meeting him.” The words came so fast of Y/N’s lips that it was a little hard for Ciara to understand what she was saying. But eventually she got the main idea.

“Well, we both know that’s not possible, because he wants to meet you.” The CEO rested her body on the seat’s back, feeling as she had lost the conflict ,showing her surrender to the gynecologist. “So we are clear, he doesn’t know who you are, it’s the first time for both of you doing this.”

“Oh, so he doesn’t have any other kids around the city, yay.” Out of Y/N’s lips came out and ironical happy voice. 

At the hearing of a knock on the door, both women turned to it. One calm and the other nervous, feeling like she wanted to hide under the desk and not come out. Ever. The gynecologist stood up and headed for the door.

“Stay calm, it’s ok.” Ciara gave Y/N a reassuring look while she turned the knob. A look that did not help, at all.

The revealing of the man behind the door happened in the  both parent’s mind in slow motion. And the feelings were similar to both of them, they even said the same thing.

“What are you doing here?” Ciara’s eyes went from her to him, not knowing at which one should she look.

“Do you know each other?” The doctor’s finger moved between their bodies.

“It cannot be!” Y/N took the file Ciara hid from her, not caring that maybe she was not supposed to look at them. “3690045 Stan, Sebastian.” It was the number she memorized, the one she chose and under it was a photo of Sebastian. There was no doubt it was him, he was the father of her baby.

“ C’me on doll, get over it.” If her heart was beating fast, now it was beating even faster. Sebastian moved from the door, a smirk on his handsome features and took a seat beside Y/N. “I kind of feel flattered. I mean from what Ciara told me, you chose without even looking at a name or picture, just information.”

“And it was the greatest mistake of my life.” Y/N’s voice came out higher than she pretended, she was upset.

“So have an abortion.” She looked at her co-worker like he had just said the worst thing.

“What?No. I’m having this baby. It annoys me that you’re the father, but I’m having this baby.I will rise him or her.” Y/N’s hand rested on her tummy, it was involuntary. But it felt like an instinct.

“You mean WE will rise it.” Y/N’s head turned fast to Sebastian, finding on his face the same asshole smirk as he had before.

“No, I will rise it by my own. That’s why you left your sperm here, so a woman got inseminated. Therefor her to rise the kid on her own, isn’t that right Ciara?” Her hand pointed at the other woman in the room, waiting for an answer.

“Yeah, it usually is that way” Y/N did not let her continue.

“See? I’m right Sebastian.” Her heart started to go to it’s normal rhythm, feeling relieved, but it did not last long. The words that came out of the doctor’s mouth, made her feel helpless again.

“But, usually the men that donate the sperm do not want to meet the mothers. And given the fact that you two know each other, I honestly think that you should at least think of rising that kid together.”

“See? I’m right Y/N.” Sebastian leaned into her, whispering the words into her ear; making her feel shivers down her spine. Y/N didn’t know if that feeling was because of something good or bad. But she decided that it was  because of something bad, not giving it much thought.

“What side are you on?” Y/N felt betrayed. She paid a lot of money to that woman to inseminate her, like a lot; at least she could give Y/N the right.

“The baby’s and I think that the best is for you to work together through  this journey.” At her words Y/N got up from the seat, ready to leave the room.

“ See you in a month doctor.” Y/N’s hand shook the doctor’s and left the room.

“I’m gonna get going too, good bye.” Sebastian stormed out of the room, in a rush to catch his co-worker. Luckily for him she was waiting for the elevator. 

As soon as Y/N saw Sebastian approaching her, her finger started to push the black elevator’s button again, and again and again; as if it would arrive faster.

“Y/N, listen to me.” His hand took in hers, keeping it away from the button. Y/N looked at they hands, it was such a warm feeling; having him touch her that way,even if it was just so she left the damn button alone. Y/N pushed the thought of their hands together at the same time that she actually got away from his touch.

“I don’t want to.” Just for her luck, or maybe not so much; the elevator finally arrived. In a hurry she got in and again, she started pushing the button several times, in a hope that she would actually get away from that man. Sebastian rolled his eyes, at that moment he felt that he was dealing with a child. 

He did the thing that most people would had done; an action that made Y/N look at him with astonishment, as if he would just had undressed then and there. He simply stepped into the elevator. Y/n was aware that her reaction shouldn’t have been the one of a surprise. And she also was aware that her mind wasn’t in it’s right track in that moment.

“You’re acting like a kid.”  The doors closed at Sebastian’s back. Leaving the two of them alone, in a small place.

“I don’t care.” He sighed, throwing his head back for a bit. His muscular body moved to the elevator’s side, right were the buttons were. Y/N followed his every move, not knowing what he was going to do. Even tough, it was quite obvious; but again, her brain was not at it’s best in those moments. Sebastian pushed the stop button. Making the woman rush to undo his action, only to be greeted with the romanian’s toned figure in the way. “ Get out of the way.” She tried to dodge him, but he was so much faster than her.

“You’re acting like a child,then so am I.” Sebastian’s arms wrapped around her own body, keeping her still on his grip. Y/N’s eyes were face to face with the man’s throat. His tall figure towering over her. “ I am the father and I want to be a part of that baby’s life, why won’t you let me?”. His beautiful blue eyes met hers.

“Tell me one thing Sebastian, would you had wanted to be part of this baby’s life if it was any other woman?” Y/n waited impatiently for his answer, not daring to keep her gaze locked on his.

“No.” Sebastian simply answered.

“Then why don’t you do the same with me?It really is something easy to do. Just stay out of it’s life.”  Y/N bit her lip, hoping that Sebastian would leave her alone.

“Because you are not any other woman and I couldn’t stay out of the baby’s life even if I wanted.” Y/N’s eyes went to his again,  seeing him with a soft expression. Something flicked inside of her; and she didn’t like it, not one bit. “ We rule a company together Y/N, even if we don’t want to, we spend a lot of time together. What am I supposed to do when I see you around the building with your pregnant belly? Just ignore it? Not ask how’s the baby? O-or when the baby is born, when you bring them to work, when it’s their birthday? Just say out of it? I’m sorry Y/N but I can’t. I really want to be in that baby’s life.” A tear escaped her eye and ran down her hot cheek. Why was she emotional about that? She didn’t like it. Sebastian’s thumb brushed the tear away softly, letting his hand rest on her face. Making her feel the same warmth she felt when he took her hand in his.

“Ok, Stan. You’ll be a present parent in this baby’s life.” The romanian smiled, happy that he could be the father of that child.

Part 3

@starkxpotts @ssweet-empowerment @ohmybuckybarnes @faakelanadelrey

MASTERLIST

[blueboxesandtrafficcones]

With This Ring...

So, this is day 7 of Ficmas for @doctorroseprompts.  This was actually partially inspired by @starry-nightflyer.  In September, I wrote little inbox ficlets for @dwinboxbuddies, three of which centered around a ring for Rose.  Her responses suggested she wanted to see him give her the ring - this is that occasion.

Clean.

2017, Day 7

Tagging @timepetalsprompts for our favorite Tenth Doctor ticks - tugging his ear, touching his neck, mussing the hair (all in one sentence!)

Ficmas Masterlist Original inbox ficlets here

AO3

He didn’t know why he was waiting.

Whenever Jackie asked (which was often – at least once a day), he babbled some vague excuse.

He was waiting for the right time.  He had a plan.  He was working on it.

All of which was just that – excuses.

He wanted it to be perfect, what Rose deserved – going so far as to do research with his limited resources, including sitting through Rose’s awful romantic comedy movies looking for ideas.

He had nothing.

But above all, he definitely had not planned on her family being present, never mind involved.

Which is why it was as much a surprise to him as it was to Rose when it finally did happen.

-

“Doctor?”  Tony’s beseeching eyes stared up at him as the little boy swayed next to his chair.

“Go ahead,” he confirmed, lips twitching in amusement as the child gave a happy shout, pulling the Doctor’s suit jacket from the back of the chair and diving into the pockets with glee.

Almost from the beginning, Rose’s brother had been fascinated by the bigger-on-the-inside pockets to the point where he’d tried several times to climb inside, barely being rescued by the Doctor.

By now, it was standard practice that as soon as he was done eating dinner he’d start digging through those pockets in search of anything interesting, usually bored with the adult conversation around him.

“-so there we are, people dropping like flies, Agatha’s having trouble grasping the alien wasp concept, when-”

“Can I have this?”  Heedless of his rudeness Tony asked his question, holding the item in hand.

“Sure,” the Doctor barely glanced at it, trying to remember where he was in the story, when the glimpse of the treasure processed.

“No!”  He cried in a panic, all but lunging for the little boy and carefully wrestling it out of his hands.  “No, Tony, I’m sorry, but you can’t have that,” he said firmly, grasping it close.  “You’re welcome to pick out something – anything – else, but not this.”

Tony pouted, but went back to digging as the Doctor picked up his story.

“So just as-”

“What was that about?” Like mother, like son, Jackie didn’t hesitate to interrupt him.

“What?”

“What did Tony have that was so important?”  She wanted to know, trying to crane her neck to see her son.  “Is he all right?”

“Wha- course he’s fine. Doesn’t matter what he had,” the Doctor said brusquely, fist tightening around it.  “As I was saying-”

“That was quite an overreaction for nothing,” Pete said curiously, keen eyes watching the alien who appeared to be sweating bullets.

“It’s just – it’s precious is all, and it’s mine and no one else’s,” he babbled, clearly nervous.

“What is it, a ring?” Rose asked, amused at how closely he resembled Gollum at the moment.

It had only been a joke, but the way the blood drained from his face as his eyes widened in full blown panic made her sit up straight.

“No, course not,” he said weakly, entirely unconvincing as he tried to sit on his hands.

“Doctor?”

He simply stared at her, and Rose wasn’t entirely sure he was breathing; now her curiosity was hitting critical levels.

“Doctor?”  She repeated, reaching out to place a gentle hand on his arm.

Rather than say anything he slowly brought his fist up, fingers unclenching one by one until his hand was flat.

Sitting in the middle of his palm was the most gorgeous ring she’d ever seen.  With a silver band, a decent but not obscene sapphire sat nestled between two small diamonds.

Rose brought one hand to her mouth, looking between him and the ring.  “What?”  She whispered, surprised at the tears pricking her eyes.

“It’s a ring,” he explained unnecessarily, staring down at the piece of jewelry.  He took several deep breaths before admitting in a rush, “I bought it for you.”

“When?”  Is all she can think to ask, but she’s not in any way prepared for the answer.

“Years ago.”

“Years?”

“On Tholla Seven.”

It took her a moment to place the name, brow furrowing.  “Hang on, wasn’t that where I got Mum’s bazoolium?”

He nodded slowly, gaze finally rising to meet hers.

“You bought me a ring?” The idea completely blows her mind. “You bought me a ring.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, hand spasming as if he wanted to hide it away.

“Doctor,” Rose stared at him wide eyed, “you bought me a ring.  Why?”

His other hand came up to ruffle his hair before tugging on his earlobe on its way to rub at the back of his neck.

“Because it’s pretty?” The Doctor suggested weakly.  Her expression did not change.  “Because I lo- because I saw it and I knew you should have it?”

Finally turning in her seat to face him fully, she waited the alien out.

Always uncomfortable with silence, he began to babble as she’d hoped.

“We were there, and you were off, and all I was looking for was a chain for your key – you wanted a new one, remember?  And I saw it, and it just – it called to me.  So I bought it.”

Looking down at the ring, he played with it gently, wondering if he was brave enough to take the leap.  It’d been several months now, and Rose was showing no indication of trying to find her way back again.  They didn’t talk about it, but their relationship was clear, wasn’t it?  How he felt?

“I love you,” he blurted, suddenly remembering he hadn’t told her yet that day, needing her to know.

“I love you too,” Rose said softly, reaching out to take his hand.  “And I want you – that’s all.  As long as we’re together, properly, like we’ve been?  That’s all I need.  Anything else is just – extra.  A bonus.”

Looking up into her eyes, even the Doctor could see the love and sincerity shining there.

“Like marriage?”  He hadn’t meant to say it, but it came out anyway.

“Like marriage,” she agreed, lips twitching.  “By my ways or yours, by the way.   I assume your people had some sort of tradition?”

The Doctor’s heart pounded in his chest at the opening.  He’d long since wanted to bond with her, join their minds together and show her everything; it was one of his biggest regrets that they’d never taken that step before- well, before.

“We did,” he acknowledged, “but that’s a discussion for another time.  I suppose for now, there’s a question I’m supposed to ask?”

“If you want,” Rose breathed, hands shaking slightly.  “But only if you want.  Bonus, remember?”

“Right.”  Mouth dry, the Doctor took a big gulp from his water glass before rising from the chair to kneel in front of Rose.  “So, I don’t actually know how this is done, so tell me if I’m getting it wrong, yeah?”

She nodded, biting her lip.

“Rose, I- hang on, before I start, am I making a fool of myself?”  He asked anxiously, peering up at her.

She giggled nervously. “Honestly, I hope Mum’s actually recording this like she’s trying to, cause right now I’m just tryin’ to pick our wedding cake.”

“Right,” he repeated, exhaling a nervous breath.  “Here goes. Love, from the moment- can I just make you cocoa instead?”

“What?”

“In Aztec culture, making someone hot chocolate is the equivalent of a proposal.  Er, so I’ve heard.  Anyway-”

“Doctor, did you once get engaged to an Aztec?”  Rose asked, smiling wryly at him.

He grimaced.  “Yeah.  It’s a long story.  My friend Barbara-” he cut himself off with a cough.  “It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later.  If you want.  Can I just-”

“Please.”

“Okay.”  He cleared his throat again.  “Rose.”  He didn’t say anything for several long seconds, only speaking at a prompt from a raised eyebrow.

“Okay, so, here goes. Rose, will you marry me?”

“Yes!”  She squealed, throwing her arms around his neck as she snogged him thoroughly.

They ignored Tony’s disgust next to them, too happy to care.

Finally breaking apart, the Doctor slid the ring onto Rose’s finger; as expected, it was a perfect fit.

“I love it,” she gushed, holding out one hand to admire it.

“I love you,” he told her, hugging her close.

“Oi!”  Jackie shouted, causing the couple to break apart.

“What?”  The Doctor asked, one arm still around Rose’s waist. “She’s an adult, Jackie, she certainly doesn’t need your permission.”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask, though I’m not wasting my breath on that.  But she does need a proper proposal!”  His now mother-in-law-to-be exclaimed, hands waving in the air.

He blinked at her, before frowning down at Rose.  “I got on one knee, I had a ring, I asked the question – what did I miss?”

“The speech!”  Jackie cried in exasperation.  “Before you actually ask, you give her a big romantic speech about what she means to you, and how much you love her, and all that. I got one from Pete – both times! She deserves that as well.”

The Doctor glanced between Rose’s parents.  “Can’t I get her name right in the vows and call it even?”  Rose’s elbow dug sharply into his side.

“I don’t need a speech,” she reassured him.

“Good,” he scowled.  “The very fact that I’m here, living in this house with Jackie, having conversations about paint colors and milk and all sorts of domestics without regurgitating my last meal should say more than enough.”

“It does,” Rose rolled her eyes at the less than flowery language.  “And, I know.”

“Really, how could you not?”

“Right?”

“So, we’ll marry then?” The Doctor double checked.

“Yes.  By Earth customs, but perhaps by Time Lord customs as well?  What are they?”

He stared down at her, wondering if she’d truly be interested in that kind of permanent closeness. “I’ll tell you later.”

“You better,” Rose ordered, as they finally returned to their seats.  “Now – you were saying Agatha couldn’t cope with aliens?”

[itsreddiebitch]

Family First Chapter 6

Summary: Emily Tozier knew one thing. Her father loved her as if she was his own. Yet, secrets and lies kept for years will push her into finding out the truth about her real father and his connection with Richie.

Chapters 1 2 3 4 5

They found Ethan shaking on the front porch. He was sitting down letting the rain pour on his already soaked clothes. His lips were tinted blue and his hands were holding the step with such pressure that his knuckles almost looked translucent. No one said anything as they approached him. His face said it all. Ethan looked as if he stared death in the face and did not look away

. His eyes looked tired as if he had aged twenty years. Emily helped him on to his feet and walked him inside. The others distracted Ethan’s grandparents as Emily and Ethan headed upstairs. He made no sound other than the casual shiver. She wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say.

“I’ll grab you some new clothes while you take a shower.” He smiled lightly at Emily before entering the bathroom. She quickly walked into the room and began to go through his luggage for pants and a shirt. He had never been this quiet since she met him. She wanted to ask what happened. She knew something happened it wasn’t just their fight. She found a thick sweater and sweatpants that would work well to keep him warm. Emily knocked on the bathroom door lightly. “I’m going to leave these on the counter is that okay?”

There was no response but the bathroom door was unlocked so she took it as a sign that it would be okay. Emily slowly opened the bathroom door. The room was filled with moisture causing the mirror to fog up. She quietly placed the close by the sink. Behind the shower curtain, a quiet sob was heard.  She did her best to leave as soon as possible. There was nothing she could so and she hated it. Emily tried to understand her friends and people around her since others had a hard time understanding her. How do you understand someone who will not talk to you about what they are going through? Emily decided that hot chocolate may not be the answer to everything but it could help with the cold. Thirty minutes past before Ethan walked into the room. Emily sat there with two mugs of hot chocolate in her hands. She smiled awkwardly at Ethan before motioning for him to sit next to her. He sat next to her silently and took one of the mugs from her hand. They sat there silently for a few minutes. The rain bounced off the closed window. As calming as rain should be it was nothing of the sort. Emily could feel the anxiety coming off of Ethan. His breathing was hard and she thought of offering her inhaler.

“Thank you.” Emily jumped at the sound of his voice. It was scratchy and Emily almost didn’t hear it. He looked tired and worn out as if he was thrown around like a doll.

“Of course, I thought it would help, with the coldness.” Emily traced her thumb on the mug feeling herself becoming nervous. Ethan made a snorting noise before laughing for the first time that night.

“coldness, really?”

‘Shut up. I am trying to help you.”

“Well, you are off to a bad start.” Emily began to stand up at that. Ethan began to laugh louder and grabbed for Emily’s hand. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. You are helping please stay.” Emily sat down with a smile feeling victorious. They began to talk about small things anything that didn’t happen in the last twenty-four hours. It didn’t matter the time for one hour turned to two and two turned to three.

“So I told him that if he ever tried to send Kelly dick picks again I would send them to his mother.” Emily giggled in between words trying to explain the story from tenth grade. Both mugs were left on the table empty.

“Are you serious?” Ethan was laughing so hard that he almost fell off the bed. “What did he do?”

“He sent her another one a week later.”

“What you do?”

“I sent them to his mother. She was very sweet. I saw him cry during lunch it was fantastic.” Both teens broke out in laughter. Emily felt her breath quicken and she reached for her inhaler and took a puff before smiling at Ethan. Her asthma had been acting up since she started this trip. It had been very emotional and Ethan was there every step of the way. She wanted to be there for him too. Once they both settled down a comforting silence grew between them.

“I’m sorry for being so cold to you recently. I have been getting dreams too but not as nice as yours.”

“What do you mean?” Ethan sighed before continuing.

“You see moments from both your fathers’ lives. I’ve seen some as well but they are not so happy. I don’t know how to explain it but there is something wrong with this town. I understand why my dad stayed away from it. I don’t know how Lucas does it.” Emily had noticed since they arrived that the town had been off. Everything looked normal but it also seemed like a façade. The adults seemed nice enough but none of them seemed very aware except for those like Mike.

“I saw Richie and Eddie by the bleachers today It wasn’t a dream I pinched myself and they were there kissing behind the bleachers. I felt like I interrupted a private moment in time. It’s great to know that they have this relationship but it was scary at the same time.” Ethan nodded in understanding. Emily didn’t want to complain about what she has seen because it wasn’t bad at all. She found out why her father was so sad. He missed his Eddie Spaghetti.

“And you can’t move closer and they can’t hear you right?”

“Yeah! That’s how it was.” Emily felt relieved that Ethan understood it. She felt like she sounded crazy saying it.

“When you guys found me back at the house. That’s when I saw something like that.” Emily grabbed Ethan’s hand to stop it from shaking. He let out a deep breath before continuing. “It was my uncle. It was a memory of the day he died.” Emily’s eye went wide at his words.

“Did you see how?”

“Yes… It wasn’t how my father explained it at all.” Emily could see he was falling in that state again. His eyes began to darken at the memory and Emily knew they needed to change the subject.

“Well, I’m here for you. You can talk to me about them now.” Emily smiled and began tracing circles over his hand to try and calm him down. It was a technique she learned from her doctor after she had an asthma attack when she was twelve. Her father sitting closely next to her as if she would disappear if he didn’t hold her. Emily felt pain shot through her heart at the thought of Richie. She had not tried to call him since last night. She wanted to call him right then but the feeling of exhaustion took over her and she knew she would need to sleep first.

“Do you have a boyfriend Emily?” Emily turned bright red at the questions not really expecting it.

“Oh no, those are not for more.” He looked confused and Emily felt like she was going to dig a hole she could not get out of. “Well, what I mean is I haven’t found a decent guy. Not a lot of people in high school are looking for deep loving relationships.” Emily laughed at herself hoping her rambling wasn’t too obvious.

“I understand that.”

“Do you?” What was she asking? Why was she asking? Emily wanted to look anywhere but Ethan’s eyes. It’s getting late she should go to bed and not see him ever again.  

“Oh no. I have had some in the past but your right people are not looking for a real relationship in high school.” The mood shifted so fast Emily didn’t know if she could handle it. Emily looked at the alarm clock to see that it was almost five in the morning.

“Holy shit. It’s almost five.” Ethan turned to the clock before looking back at the Emily. Emily began to get up and collect the mugs when Ethan’s hand landed on her arm. He looked nervous almost insecure.

“I um, I was wondering if you could sleep with me here. I don’t know if I can be alone with this.” Emily nodded and began getting under the covers. She didn’t need to be told twice. Ethan smile before joining her. They were awkward at first, not sure how they should sleep next to each other. Their faces were so close together Emily didn’t know how she would sleep. However, as there breathing began to sync and the exhaustion began to wash over them, Emily got closer to Ethan and drifted off. As they both began to drift into their dreams another woke to a nightmare.

Lucas woke up at five thirty in the morning every day to run. He liked to run around Derry and get his day started early. He needed to be in shape especially when it wasn’t football season. It was also the best time to see Derry in its true form. In the early hours, Derry is a ghost town. Some say it is haunted by them. However, Lucas knew better. Living here all his life he knew that this town was anything but a town. Yes, there was a community, shops, hospital, schools, and jobs but it seemed fake. No adult other than a few could remember any of the tragic deaths in town. Many kids who were not adults even forgot about the death of Georgie. It was as if his memory was erased when he was taken down that drain. Lucas knew only because of his father. Mike wrote a book about the history of Derry and his experience with the creature that made Derry it’s home. Derry wasn’t a town. It was a monster’s nest. Lucas turned a corner on to the street of the old Ironworks. It had been years and the old crumbling building was torn down and built into another. He slowed down to a walk once he was in front of it. The architecture was not too great. They tried for a more modern look that made the building stand out like a sore thumb. Lucas looked at his watch, ready to continue. Yet, as he looked back up the building morphed into the old Kitchener Ironworks. It was barely a building only the skeleton of one but just like every year, IT appeared. From a distance, he could see his father approaching the building. At first, this moment terrified Lucas. He was twelve the first time he saw it, about the same age as his father. Lucas ran home crying and that was the day he learned about IT and what his father had gone through

Lucas watched as the illusion of his father screamed in terror at the giant bird in front of him. IT stretched its wings and began to approach Mike. Mike began to run for his life. Lucas was in a state of shock but not because of the memory in front of him. This memory never happened at this time of the year. It is always during the summer. Lucas didn’t wait for the memory to finish. He began to run fast. Ethan’s face when they got back to the house should have been obvious. Ethan saw a vision, a memory. Lucas felt himself becoming more worried as he got closer to town. His younger father’s screams made him cover his ears. If they all are seeing what Ethan is seeing they would eventually see the monster who left its den.

“Richie why the fuck did you do that?” Eddie was applying rubbing alcohol to a cotton pad before dabbing it over Richie’s eyebrow. They were in an alleyway seconds after a visit from Tyler Silmore. Tyler was throwing slurs at Eddie and was about to throw some fists when Richie opened his big mouth. So instead of Eddie being the punching bag, it was Richie.

“They were disrespecting my boyfriend. I had to defend your honor babe.” Eddie shook his head and began to wipe the blood off Richie’s face. Eddie looked down at the ground to see Richie’s glasses broken on the floor. “Well shit, got another reason for my mom to hate me.” Eddie knew Richie wasn’t joking.

“Hold on.” Eddie reached into his fanny pack and revealed an extra pair of glasses for Richie. He slowly moved them in front of Richie’s face careful to not touch his bruised eye. Eddie smiled as Richie stared at the teen in front of him.

“I love you.”

“What?” Eddie pretended he didn’t hear because he wanted to hear it again.

“Are you fucking deaf? I love you Eds.” Richie looked embarrassed and wouldn’t look Eddie in the eye. Eddie decided that even though there could be thousands of germs on Richie’s face, a kiss wouldn’t hurt. He leaned in and placed his lips on Richie’s cheek.

“I love you too Trashmouth.” Eddie continued to patch up Richie. A comfortable silence grew.

“I need to toughen up for when we see that fucking clown again. So this is good practice.” Eddie knew he was trying to be funny but there was nothing funny about it. Eddie frowned at the thought of having to see that thing again.

“Don’t say that.” Richie held Eddie’s hand in his and gave it a kiss.

“I’ll be right by your side Eds.” Eddie looked like he was on the brink of tears.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Emily woke up with tears in her eyes and she played back the memory back in her head. Every memory was slowly becoming sadder. She had no idea where Eddie was or if he was even alive. She moved to her side and almost jumped at the feeling of another body next to her own. She calmed down when she saw Ethan’s sleeping face. Emily had forgotten they slept next to each other last night. Emily slowly sat up to look at the time. It was almost noon. Her stomach woke up as well and Emily decided to surprise Ethan with some sandwiches from the store. She slowly left the room trying not to wake him. She closed the door and let out a sigh.

“So what were you guys doing last night?” Emily nearly screamed as she turned around to see Stacey with a big grin on her face.

“Nothing, we were just talking.” Stacey narrowed her eyes as if Emily was lying.

“Bullshit.”

“I swear to God. Do you want to go to the store with me?”

“Nah, I’m going to see what Lucas is up to.” Emily raised her eyebrow questionably.

“If you are not going to give me details I don’t need to give you mine.” Stacey winked before heading back into her room. Emily laughed and headed down the stairs.

Emily opened the door to the shop. A small bell rang letting the cashier know that she had entered. She looked at the man behind the counter who looked at her before looking back at his newspaper. It may be a small town but it didn’t have that friendly small town feel. Emily walked through the aisle before finding what she needed. She looked through the sandwich options wondering what Ethan may like. She decided on a ham and swiss and began to reach for it but another hand beat her to it. She looked to her right to see Harry Hanscom. He looked as startled as her.

“I’m sorry did you want this one?” Harry shook his head before baking away.

“Oh no, you take it.” He looked nervous as if she was going to yell at him. Instead, Emily handed him the sandwich and picked up another instead.

“Don’t worry about it. Turkey is a good choice too. Where are you staying?” Emily smiled trying to seem as friendly as possible. She didn’t want to scare him off especially cause she didn’t know him well.

“I’m staying at the bed and breakfast across the way. The owners are lovely.” Harry began looking at his camera. Emily looked over, curious on what kind of photos he took.

“May I see your photos?” Harry finally looked her in the eyes as a blush spread across his face. She had never met someone as shy as Harry. Maybe it was because she grew up with a charismatic father.

“S-sure.” Emily took a step closer and leaned in to see the camera. Harry started at the beginning of his time in Derry. He took photos of the sign and the buildings.

“Are you more of a landscape photographer?”

“Yep, my father is an architect so he showed me the beauty of buildings especially the older models.” They continued to look at the many buildings he captured and pictures of the Barrens. All the pictures were shot beautifully, he had a real talent for it. One picture caught her eye. It was a house that wasn’t much of a house anymore. Decaying wood surrounded the area where the house once stood. There was a well right where the middle of the house would be located. It was the only thing left standing.

“You have a talent for it. Would you mind sending them to me? Here is my number.” Emily grabbed her phone to prepare to exchange numbers. Harry hesitated before grabbing his own. “Also don’t be afraid to hang out with us. We would love to get to know you. If you want of course.”

“I don’t know if Ethan would be a fan of that.”

“Oh don’t worry he will! He is just going through a lot at the moment, we all are.” Emily gathers her things and began heading to the register. Harry followed and looked at Emily as if she was an Alien. Maybe he wasn’t use to people being so friendly. She paid for her thing and thanked the man.

“I’ll definitely do that.”

“Great! Then I’ll see you soon then?”

“Yeah! I’ll see you soon.” Harry smiled before waving at Emily as she headed down the street. She felt happy that she could get Harry to come out of his shell a little bit. She wanted to get to know everyone and see what they were like. Seeing all their parents in her dream made her curious about them. However, with the possibility of new friends came the worry that she would forget about the reason she was here. Eddie. Mike did not give her a real answer if her father was dead or alive. She felt like she was running in circles while others watched laughing. She felt stupid. Emily hated not knowing what everyone else knew. So far all she knew was that he and Richie had a relationship that she never knew about. It worried her cause Richie never told Emily about the things that hurt him most. She also wondered why they mentioned a clown. How could clown make them both shake from fear?

Emily was so lost in thought that she didn’t take the right street back. She found herself on 29 Neibolt Street. The houses looked archaic as if they were all that was left during an end of the world movie. Emily looked at each house with interest until she heard footsteps in front of her. She turned to see a small boy wearing a fanny pack. Emily’s eyes grew wide as she realized it was her father. Just like before she could only get so close before a force stopped her. She tried to get as close as she could to see his features. At the moment she could only see the back of him. He held an inhaler in his right hand. Emily reached into her own pocket and felt her inhaler. She never knew he had asthma.

“Excuse me.” Emily had a feeling he would not be able to hear her. There was no way he could since it was a dream. She watched as he looked at the last house on the block nervously. It was the one that Harry took a photo off. However, it was still standing. It looked like it was going to fall apart and second but it was in a completely different shape compared to the photo she saw. How could that be? A watch alarm went off and the boy stopped. Eddie opened his fanny pack and grabbed some pills from it. However, he didn’t stop looking at the house. Even with his alarm going off he got closer to the house. Emily could see a good portion of his face now. He looked curious yet timid. She wanted to tell him to stop, to go home. Suddenly a figure appeared on the porch. It wasn’t a clown. It looked like a human, however, his face was decaying on one side and the nose was practically gone. Eddie screamed and backed away from the creature. It rose up slowly as if it was rising from a grave. Emily felt her blood turn cold as she watched him offer Eddie a blowjob for a quarter.

“I don’t have a quarter.” Eddie looked disgusted but mostly horrified at the sight in front of him. Emily mirrored that expression as she watched her young father struggle to breathe.

“I’ll do it for a dime.” The man looked as if he was slowly decaying with every step he took. He smiled at Eddie in a predatory way.

“I…I don’t have a dime either.” The man began to quicken his pace which made Eddie reach for his bike in fear. Eddie got on and began peddling as fast as he could.

“I’ll blow you for free.” The man began to scream the words over and over as he chased Eddie down the street. The kid was screaming with no one other than Emily to hear. He peddled till he was out of sight. Emily stood there stunned. She was shaking trying her best not to breath harshly. That’s when the man turned around and looked straight at Emily.

“How about you darling? Got a quarter?” Emily dropped the bag of sandwiches and ran in the opposite direction. She held back a scream for she needed the air in her lungs to run far enough without having an asthma attack. Her throat began to tighten but that did not stop her. Emily did not dare look back even though the man was gone, leaving the plastic bag alone in the street.  

@muruchwitch@trashmouth-tozier69 @reddiestenbrough @just-an-akward-fangirl @allison0609 @rheddie @

[raywritesthings]

Lost in Translation 8/?

My Writing Fandom: Doctor Who Characters: Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor Pairing: Doctor/Donna Summary: In a universe where people are born with the name of the person destined for them displayed on their skin, intergalactic soulmates can be rather difficult to navigate. AO3 link   

Donna woke half-curled up on her side on top of the covers and with her phone still plastered to her cheek. Her mother had kept her up most of the night talking and eventually she’d laid down only interjecting with the occasional “Yeah” or “Mm-hm”, and she must have drifted off at some point.

She was still wearing the shift she’d been given by the Puritans before they’d decided to have her executed. She’d struggled out of the top layers of the dress before nodding off. Donna stood and undid the ties on it, allowing the garment to join its fellows in a crumpled heap on the floor. She continued on to her en suite and started the water for a bath. She deserved it after the day she’d had yesterday.

Donna sank into the bath with a sigh, her body relaxing even if her mind didn’t. Because once she left the relative safety of her room, she’d have to face what almost happened last night.

She slid down until just her nose poked out over the water. What had she been thinking? Get rid of the mark, then make the move. Not, well, that.

He hadn’t been helping, of course, what with those brown eyes and soft words and holding her just as long. Did he not get she was in a crisis here?

Would the Doctor be expecting them to pick up right where they’d left off before her mum rang? Donna couldn’t put him off — and didn’t want to — without making it seem like she wasn’t interested. Then she would miss her chance. But if things moved too quickly, she wouldn’t have a chance to get her mark removed.

Then again, she knew the Doctor would never pressure her for more than she was prepared to give. He just wasn’t the sort. As long as Donna didn’t lose her head, they could start this whatever it was now, then she could find someplace to have the removal done, and afterwards they could move things forward at whatever pace suited them.

Relief swept through her at having solved things. Maybe she was a little brilliant like he said. Donna washed up, then hurried back into her room to get dressed. She wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nerves that had her so eager to find her Spaceman, but she didn’t want to give the doubt even a moment to creep in.

Locating the Doctor proved to be easier said than done. He wasn’t in the console room, for a start, and when Donna took the corridor leading to the library, she didn’t find him either.

“Doctor?” Had he gone off to sleep somewhere? She’d never gotten an answer to where his room was. That was changing.

But she heard the kettle whistle as she passed the kitchen. Poking her head in, she spotted the Doctor at the stove. “Been looking for you.”

He turned around, grinning. Donna had to bite her lip to keep from doing so as well. God, and she’d thought she could wait. “Good morning! Breakfast won’t be a minute.”

He’d set everything up as if just waiting for her arrival to begin. Donna could get rather used to that. Soon enough there were eggs sizzling and toast popping out of toaster, both of which he served to her on a plate.

“Bit on the light side. Don’t want to spoil your appetite.” The Doctor hadn’t even made anything for himself, and instead took the skillet over to the sink to start the washing up. She wondered if he just couldn’t sit still.

“And why not?”

“I’ve got just the trip for you today,” he said over his shoulder.

“Oh?”

“Yep. Called the Shan Shen market. Brilliant place! Booths all up and down the main streets selling anything you can imagine. And the food! Oh, you’re gonna love it.”

He went on babbling about their upcoming trip just like any morning. Was that it? They weren’t even going to talk about what had happened? Did he think she didn’t want to because she’d run off? Or did he not want to? Was he trying to pretend it hadn’t happened?

“Finished your tea?” He was stood by her chair all of a sudden, and she blinked.

“Sure. You haven’t even touched yours.” Donna prodded at the second mug she had prepared across from hers.

“I’ll get something there,” he dismissed, then took both of her hands to pull her up from the chair. “Off we go, then. Allons-y!”

It was hard not to get swept up in his enthusiasm even if Donna had about a million questions flying through her head, and it was even harder once they’d exited the TARDIS into a totally new world. There were cars flying hundreds of feet in the air!

They made their way through the small crowd of people milling about the booths, and Donna thought she’d lost him for a moment before the Doctor returned to her side with two foaming mugs. He looked practically giddy as he passed one to her.

Donna tried to beg off. “I’d rather have a water.”

“You are going to love it,” he insisted. “One, two, three.” They both raised the mugs to their lips and took a gulp. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it was sort of sweet with just a hint of spice.

“Lovely!” Donna couldn’t help a laugh, both at the surprise of how delicious the drink was and the foam that had gotten on his upper lip.

They finished their drinks while they walked along. Donna wouldn’t mind a couple passes back and forth; there was just so much to see!

“You have to get something while we’re here,” he insisted, steering her towards one of the booths. “Nobody ever leaves Shan Shen without a souvenir.”

“Didn’t know you bought into that sort of thing,” she remarked but dutifully began scanning the items on display. This particular vendor looked to specialize in jewelry. Donna browsed through the necklaces and picked up one to examine. It was a simple cord with something round and smooth like a pearl on the end, about the size of a golfball. It was a sort of blueish color with a dark center.

“That’s not a bad pick.” The Doctor placed his hand over hers and began tilting it and the necklace she held. “They call it the sunflower stone, because if it catches the light just right…”

“Oh!” The edge around the darkened center shone bright gold. Donna looked round to find him smiling at her.

“Good, isn’t it? Excuse me,” he called to the merchant manning this particular booth, who looked to be finishing up a sale.

“Are we interested in buying something today?”

“Yes, how much for the necklace?”

The merchant held out a hand and Donna obligingly passed the it over. “This? Ah yes, the hidden beauty. Found it at the bottom of the ocean, polished by the waves and sand for thousands of years before that. A very good choice for the lady, sir. I will not part with it for less than five-hundred.”

“Five-hundred?” The Doctor made a face but reached into his coat. Donna’s eyes went wide as she grabbed at his arm.

“No, no, you are not spending that much on me.”

He arched an eyebrow. “No?”

“No,” she repeated.

The Doctor nodded, but, rather than leave, he turned back to the merchant. “You heard the lady. You’re asking too much. Why not halve it?”

“Half? Absolutely not,” the man said.

“Well, we’ve got a problem, then, because — do you see her eyes?” Donna pressed her lips together and hoped to God she wasn’t blushing as the Doctor gestured to her. “Rings of gold just the same. They’re a perfect match. I mean, you can’t imagine finding someone more suited for it, can you?” He gave an exaggerated shrug. “You see the problem? I just have to have it for her.”

There was a pause as the merchant clearly considered, then bit out, “450.”

The Doctor was already shaking his head. “Oh, come on! 300.”

Donna walked on as the Doctor continued to haggle. She wasn’t sure she’d survive hearing him go on about her eyes twice in a row. Truth be told she couldn’t believe he’d just done it a first time!

This was...this was a date, wasn’t it? Maybe neither of them had said it, but that’s what they were doing. Here, at the beach, even Agatha Christie and the 20s had started out this same way. Only now there was an energy, an intent that hadn’t been there before that near-kiss last night.

Donna had worried he was trying to let her down, and it turned out he was just trying to do this properly. She looked back at him haggling away and allowed a full find smile to spread across her face.

Tonight, she’d tell him how she felt — or maybe he would; who knew what he had planned next? — and the first chance she got she’d ask to visit home. Donna knew she could count on Gramps to keep her Spaceman occupied while she pretended to run an errand for her mum. She’d have to call ahead, and she had a bit of money saved up — not like she was using it traveling the universe — and she could have the removal done and put that whole mess behind her. Her future was with the Doctor, and Donna wasn’t about to lose that for anything. With a determined nod, Donna walked on.

A woman called out to her, a fortune teller. “Your life predicted, the future foretold.”

“Oh, no thanks,” said Donna.

“Don't you want to know if you're going to be happy?”

“I'm happy right now, thanks.”

The woman wouldn’t let up, though, and when she offered to do it for free Donna relented. Maybe she was hoping to drum up some business, and it’d be a new experience at the least.

For being on a totally different planet, it seemed fortune telling worked pretty similarly to Earth. There was the little round table, the cloth draped over everything, and the first thing the woman did was take her hand and start reading her palm. About the only thing missing was the crystal ball.

“I can see...a man.”

Donna couldn’t help a scoff. Typical. At least she hadn’t paid anything!

“The most remarkable man,” the fortune teller continued. “For a most remarkable woman. Two halves coming together, drawn by fate—”

“Yeah, we’re not actually soulmates,” Donna decided to help her out.

“Then how did you meet him?”

“You’re supposed to tell me.”

The fortune teller looked up from her palm. “I see the future. Tell me the past. When did your lives cross?”

“It’s sort of complicated,” said Donna. “I don’t know anything about fate, but I ended up in a spaceship on my wedding day. Long story.”

“But what led you to that meeting?” The woman pressed.

Donna shrugged. “All sorts of things. But my job, I suppose. It was on Earth, this planet called Earth, miles away. But I had this job as a temp. I was a secretary at a place called HC Clements.”

It was like suddenly she was at HC Clements again, sitting at that old desk and Lance across the way, pointing at the coffee machine. Donna swayed and came back to herself in the tent.

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s the incense,” the fortune teller told her. “Just breathe deep. This job of yours? What choices led you there?”

“There was a choice, six months before,” she said, and she could see it again. Her and her mum sitting in the car nattering on about Mr. Chowdry and his photocopy business. Only she could hear the fortune teller, too.

“Your life could have gone one way or the other. What made you decide?”

“I just did.” Donna didn’t like this much anymore. Something felt off. Why was she being so insistent? Why did it matter how she’d met the Doctor?

“But when was the moment? When did you choose?”

She couldn’t focus properly. It was like there were two conversations happening at once, her mum in the car and the fortune teller both urging her to turn right. “Stop it,” Donna said, not sure to whom she said it to.

Something latched onto her shirt. “What’s that?” She asked, trying to turn around, but the woman wouldn’t let go of her hands. “What’s on my back?”

“Make the choice again, Donna Noble, and change your mind,” the fortune teller commanded. “Turn right.”

Donna didn’t know what had come over her. There was something on her back, but she couldn’t see it, and she couldn’t remember why she hadn’t turned right anymore. She heard herself speak. “I’m turning…”

—-

Donna sat in the car wondering why she’d even offered her mum a lift on the way to the agency. Probably because it was her mum’s car. She really needed to look into getting one of her own. Maybe a Smart?

Her idle wondering couldn’t completely drown out her mother’s tirade, of course. Donna was pretty sure nothing could.

“Well, let me tell you, sweetheart. City executives don't need temps, except for practice,” said her mother. “Your time’ll be up soon as they’ve met their soulmate, then the job will be over, too.”

Did she always have to remind her? It wasn’t her fault she didn’t have someone’s name she could expect to run into someday. A little fun here and there was all she reasonably aim for.

But was that what she wanted? Her forties were fast approaching, as her mum also liked to bring up constantly. Fooling around would have to stop eventually. And if she couldn’t hope for a husband, than she might as well have a career to point to whenever someone asked what she was doing with her life.

“Yeah,” Donna sighed. “Suppose you’re right.” She switched the turn signal and made the right towards Griffin’s Parade and Mr. Chowdry’s.

She actually landed the job at his photocopy place and before six months was up had been promoted to personal assistant. Her mum really had been right after all! It was nice not having her calling up nagging all the time, nice not worrying about how she was going to cover the rent once her time at this or that office was up. She had roots, if not in a personal life then in a professional one.

Donna went out with some mates on Christmas Eve. What, just because she didn’t much like the holidays didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy a good drink! It was a good bit of fun; Nerys couldn’t make it, and Donna even surprised herself with her goodwill by buying a couple rounds for their table.

She couldn’t help noticing Alice acting a bit funny, though. “What's wrong? What is it?” Alice blinked. “Sorry?” 

“Did someone spill a drink on me?” “Why?” Asked Alice, as if she had know idea what Donna was talking about. “Why do you keep looking at my shoulder? What's wrong?” “I don't know.” Donna rolled her eyes. “Oh, don't tell me you're getting all spooky again. It was bad enough when you saw the ghost of Earl Mountbatten at the boat show. What are you looking at? What is it?” “It's like,” Alice struggled for a moment, then continued, “it's like there's something I can't see.”

Then a man burst into the pub shouting about a Christmas star, so of course they all had to go see what he was on about or if he was just drunk.

But sure enough, there was a something. It was huge and silver, just hanging in the air above them. Donna wasn’t sure if that was tinsel supposed to be covering it. It looked more like webbing. Regardless, it was incredible and impossible...and Donna felt like she’d seen it before. Was it from some movie?

“That's not a star. That's a web,” she stated with a confidence she didn’t know she had. “It's heading east. Middle of the City.”

Then electricity began shooting from the star and Donna found herself in a movie. Part of the faceless crowd getting killed, that figured.

She was about to run for cover like all the rest, but when she looked over her shoulder Alice was staring at her again. “Alice! There's a great big web star thing shooting at people, and you're looking at me?”

Alice met her eyes, looking horrified. “There is something on your back.” Then she ran for it.

Donna watched her go, then looked back at the star. What was going on? Why did she feel like she’d been through this before? She began to walk, unheeding of Veena’s calls for her to come back.

Her feet led her down to Canary Wharf. There were soldiers in red berets and tanks and a barricade. They fired on the star, and it finally stopped shooting electricity. Donna walked all the way to the edge of the barricade. People were being warned to keep back, but she didn’t listen like the rest of them. She snuck around the back of a truck and watched as one of the soldiers spoke into a radio.

“From the evidence, I'd say he managed to stop the creature. Some sort of red spider. Blew up the base underneath the barrier, flooded the whole thing. Over.” “And where is he now? Over.” “We found a body, sir. Over.” “Is it him? Over.” “I think so. He just didn't make it out in time.”

There was a stretcher being wheeled out that they’d laid a sheet over. As it was jerked to a halt in order to be lifted, a man’s arm fell out from under the sheet, a strange little pen that had been in his hand clattering to the ground.

“The Doctor is dead.” The soldier on the radio said some other things, but Donna found she wasn’t really listening. She could only stare until the body had been loaded into the back of the ambulance and the doors had slammed shut. Then she backed away from the horrible sight.

Why had she come out here? Anything could have happened to her. She could have died. But something had drawn her just as it was now repelling her.

She was so lost in thought she nearly didn’t notice the woman running towards her until she was upon her.

“What happened? What did they find?” She stopped just a few paces beyond Donna. “I'm sorry, did they find someone?” “I don't know,” said Donna, still in a bit of a daze. “A bloke called the Doctor, or something.”

“Well, where is he?” The woman demanded. She was young and blonde, Donna noted. “They took him away. He's dead.” The look on the other woman’s face had her asking, “I'm sorry, did you know him? I mean, they didn't say his name. Could be any doctor.” “I came so far.” “It- it could be anyone,” Donna tried to reassure her again.

The woman seemed to be trying to shake it off. “What's your name?” “Donna. And you?” “Oh, I was just passing by. I shouldn't even be here. This is wrong. This is so wrong.” Donna couldn’t help agreeing with her, though she said nothing aloud. She’d just noticed the woman kept trying to glance over her shoulder. “Sorry, what was it? Donna what?” “Why do you keep looking at my back?” “I'm not,” the blonde immediately insisted, even as she continued to do so.

“Yes, you are. You keep looking behind me. You're doing it now. What is it? What's there? Did someone put something on my back?”

She turned her head to check herself and when she looked back the blonde woman was gone. Donna hadn’t even heard her walk away.

When she finally made it back to her parents’ home it was late, but she found them both awake watching the news.

“There she is.” Her dad stood and wrapped her in a hug. “Your mum’s been worrying.”

Barely had he let her go when her mum started right up. “Veena phoned. Said you ran down to the wharf. What were you thinking? You could’ve been hurt. ”

“That was all done by the time I got there. I don’t know why I had to,” Donna confessed. “Guess I just wanted to see.”

“Well it wasn’t safe,” Her mother chided. “They’re saying the Thames has completely drained.”

“I know. There was a man they pulled out. He- he drowned — sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying about it all of a sudden.” Her dad had passed her his handkerchief, and she dabbed at her eyes. “Must have just hit me.”

“It’s a dreadful thing,” her father said as he patted her arm. “Drowned. Well he must have been caught up in it too fast to get himself out, poor fellow.”

It was the strangest thing. Donna couldn’t explain how, but for a brief second she wasn’t at home with her parents. Instead she was standing in some room made of concrete while water poured all around her, shouting up at someone, “Doctor! You can stop now!”

She came back to herself with a shake of the head. What had that been about?

“Donna, love, you alright?”

“Yeah, dad. Just tired. I think I’ll turn in early.”

Donna had the strangest dream that night. There was a man she’d never seen before standing in front of her and holding her hands. His eyes had been brown and full of warmth, but his smile had seemed sad all the same.

“Thank you, Donna Noble. It’s been brilliant. You’ve- you’ve saved my life in so many ways.”

There’d been the same soldiers in red berets standing behind him, and before she’d been able to ask, his hands had slipped out of hers, and he’d begun walking away.

“Hang on, what do you mean? Who are you? Where are you going?”

She’d watched him climb into the back of an ambulance and the soldiers drive him away, and it had felt wrong. Donna hadn’t been able to shake the thought that she was supposed to be there, too, wherever he was going. How was she supposed to save him if he up and left?

Of course upon waking up crying, Donna realized how ridiculous the whole thing was. She must have been all worked up from what she’d seen the night before. When had she ever done anything important, much less saved someone’s life?

She wiped at her eyes and splashed cold water on her face before heading downstairs for Christmas morning. There wasn’t much special about it; with Gramps stuck in hospital across the river there wasn’t really anyone to get them all in the spirit. They phoned him, of course, and passed presents around the table, and that was that. Same old life. Why had she expected that to change all of a sudden?

“There’s been nothing on the news about him,” Donna said a few days later. “That man they pulled out. I thought maybe I’d go to the service.” Maybe that blonde woman would be there and Donna could get her name and ask why she’d been staring at her back funny.

“He might’ve been homeless,” her mother suggested.

“I don’t think so. They called him a doctor.”

“Who did?”

“The soldiers that pulled him out.”

“Well how’d they know him?”

“How should I know?” Donna shrugged. “Not like I knew him.”

Donna soon forgot about him when her father’s diagnosis came back terminal. They tried treatments, of course, but though Donna tried to keep a positive attitude she just somehow knew. She was going to lose her dad.

Eventually, they simply brought him home from hospital and tried to make him comfy. Her mum hardly left his side, and once Donna heard him say, “That’s all I need, Sylvie.”

She took time off to make the funeral arrangements and stood with her mother all through the service and after at the grave. “Is it...worse?” She couldn’t help asking, despite something telling her she already knew the answer. “Knowing you were…?”

“I wouldn’t change a minute,” said her mother, eyes fixed on the headstone. Then she turned and left without another word.

Donna supposed her mother was right. After all, her father had had his soulmate and the family they’d built together with him to the very end. Could she ever hope to have that whenever it was her turn? Her job wasn’t about to hold her hand through it all.

It took ages for her to get to sleep that night, too caught up in grief and her own morbid wonderings. The pillow she cried into morphed into a man’s chest in her dreams, and the soothing beat of his heart with its strange rhythm finally let her drift off to a restful sleep. When she woke up without an arm wrapped around her or a hand rubbing her back in comfort, she felt lonelier than ever. She chalked it up to the mourning process and tried to forget about it.

Turned out her job wasn’t even going to hold her hand through next year. Donna barely got back into her routine before Mr. Chowdry was giving her the news she was being let go. She didn’t bother making a graceful exit — not like she’d be seeing any of those useless idiots ever again — and made sure to pack up whatever fit into the box she was given to collect her things.

She’d moved back home to help with her dad and now it seemed she’d be staying there a good while longer. Donna didn’t know how to feel about her mother’s apathy towards the whole situation, but she supposed she ought to be grateful it wasn’t causing a row.

Her Gramps didn’t seem to even register she’d been sacked; he was too engrossed in the news report about that hospital that had supposedly vanished and then came back. Aliens was his theory of course, which she and her mother both shot down.

“I am telling you it is getting worse, these past few years,” he insisted. “It's like, all of a sudden, they suddenly know all about us, and there's keen eyes up there and they're watching us, and they're not friendly.”

Donna volunteered to go out for chips just for something to do. Before she could make it very far, there was a flash of light and a loud noise up ahead, and a woman came running out in front of her. “Blimey! Are you alright? What was that, fireworks or—?”

She stopped, unable to believe her eyes for a minute. It was the same blonde woman from Christmas Eve!

She hardly seemed all that surprised to see Donna, asking her how she was and her eyes immediately drifting to her shoulder again.

“You’re doing it again,” Donna decided to tell her.

Things only proceeded to get weirder. The woman wanted to know what she was doing for Christmas, then suggested a getaway for her and her family.

“Can’t afford it,” Donna said bluntly.

“Well, no, you got that raffle ticket.”

Donna stiffened. “How do you know about that?”

“First prize, luxury weekend break. Use it, Donna Noble.”

“Why won’t you tell me your name?” Donna asked instead. The woman wouldn’t answer. “I think you should leave me alone,” she said, then turned and walked away.

Donna went back home and tried to put the whole strange meeting out of her mind. It must have been a lucky guess, her knowing about the raffle. It wasn’t like Donna had seen her following her around or anything. It was nothing.

She had a dream that night that Gramps met an alien and shook his hand. He kept showing it to her with a look of sheer wonder on his face. When Donna woke up, she tried to put that out of her mind, too.

In the end, Donna took the blonde’s advice. Not because she was worried or anything. Just that a luxury weekend break sounded nice. They could use that, the year they were having.

The hotel was brilliant. Their room was a bit of a squeeze, and poor Gramps ended up on the sofa, but it was a nice break away from home. She woke up early on Christmas morning, a first since she was a very young girl, and was getting ready for the day before either he or her mum had even woken up. She didn’t know why she was in such a good mood on Christmas of all days; maybe it was just that nice dream she’d had where some strange man had made it snow for her.

Her family had roused enough by the time the maid knocked with their breakfast, and she asked grandad to get the door while she finished fixing her hair.

The maid wheeled a whole cart in for them while her mum was going on about whatever program she had on the telly.

“Because I thought, nice early breakfast, and then we'll go for a walk. People always say that at Christmas. Oh, we all went for a walk. I've always wanted to do that. So, walk first, presents later, yeah?” She smiled at the thought, though none of her family appeared to have listened at all. Typical.

“Tienes algo en tu espalda.”

Donna turned around. “What?” Their maid was standing in the open doorway of the bathroom.

“Donna, look at the telly,” said her mother.

“Tienes algo en tu espalda,” the maid repeated. She was staring at Donna with the same kind of horror as Alice last Christmas.

“What does that mean? I don’t know what you’re saying,” she tried to explain.

“Tienes algo en tu espalda!” The maid shouted again, then turned and ran from the room. Donna could only stare.

“For God’s sake, Donna,” her mum said. “Don’t just stand there, come and look.”

“The object is falling on Central London. I repeat, this is not a hoax. A replica of the Titanic is falling out of the sky, and it's heading for Buckingham Palace. We're getting this footage from the Guinevere range of satellites.”

“Is that a film or something?” Donna asked. How could it possibly be real?

“The Royal Air Force has declared an emerg—” The broadcast cut off abruptly and seconds later the whole room shook.

They went outside with everyone else, and there was a towering cloud of smoke rising in the distance. Donna couldn’t believe it.

“I was supposed to be out there selling papers,” Gramps was saying. “I should have been there. We all should. We'd be dead.” “That's everyone. Every single person we know. The whole city,” said her mum. Donna shook her head. “Can't be.” “But it is. It's gone. London's gone.” Her Gramps looked at her. “If you hadn't won that raffle.”

The only reason she’d even entered it was because of that blonde...how had she known? Why had she warned her? When Donna looked over her shoulder, she saw the same maid from before staring right at her and pointing at her back.

Eventually, people began going back into their hotel rooms. Her family trailed in, still in a daze. Her mum began desperately calling up anybody she could get a hold of while her Gramps sat and watched the news with tears in his eyes. Donna didn’t know what to do with herself. London was a mushroom cloud, and all that maid had been able to do was stare at her. Just what did that mean?

People kept saying things, looking at her back odd. The only strange thing Donna could think of on her back was that stupid old mark — oh God, had people been catching sight of that? She’d thought for sure all her shirts and sweaters covered it up completely.

Donna retreated into the bathroom and stood facing away from the mirror, her hair tossed over one shoulder. She craned her neck to try and get a look, but her mark was definitely covered up. Donna tugged down on the hem of her sweater to see if maybe that was the problem, but—

“That’s not right,” she murmured. Donna hurriedly yanked the sweater over her head to get a proper look. Her mark was still there, but not all of it. Even if she had no bloody clue what it meant she’d had it long enough to know what it looked like. Some of the top circles were either totally or partially missing.

“Gramps?” She called, and the note of panic in her voice had him hurrying through the door.

“What is it, love?”

“Take a look at this. My mark, it’s not right. I mean less than usual.”

“Eh?” He stepped closer, peering at the strange symbols. “Looks smaller.”

“Yeah, some of it’s missing. Just gone. I don’t know when, but- but that’s not supposed to happen, is it? What’s it mean?”

Her grandad shrugged, at a loss. “Well, I don’t know, sweetheart. Never heard of that sort of thing before.”

Donna turned again to stare at it in the mirror. “But why’s it happening now? I mean what’s changed?”

Their stay at the hotel felt entirely short lived, even more so than it might have knowing they had nothing to return to. They were bundled instead into a hostel, overcrowded and grimy with barely enough food to go around. People were being put in queues for relocation, but it was longer for families that didn’t want to split up. The days seemed to drag on, with no one to talk to and nothing to do. Even if she hadn’t lost her job at poor Mr. Chowdry’s office, she’d have nowhere to work now. What were they going to do for money? The housing office didn’t seem to care; everybody knew the jobs were up in Glasgow, but where did they get sent? Bloody Leeds.

When they arrived in Leeds, they discovered they weren’t even to have a house to themselves. Practically another hostel. Rocco Colasantos introduced them all to his family and the Merchandanis with a cheer that might have grated on her were she not so exhausted. It said a lot that she was simply grateful to be able put her things down, even in their kitchen-turned-bedroom.

The narrow bathroom they were all going to share had a mirror at least. Donna shrugged out of her coat and examined her mark for the first time since they’d left the hotel. Even more of it had vanished into nothing, like it’d just been drawn in marker this whole time and was finally washing off. Donna reached back and touched the edge of it with her fingertips.

“Where are you going?” She wondered.

“Donna, I need the toilet.” Her mother knocked on the door causing it to swing open since she hadn’t shut it properly. “Are you still looking at that thing? What for?”

“Well it keeps disappearing, mum, look.”

Her mother didn’t bother, instead muttering, “Good riddance, if you ask me.”

“Yes, thank you mum,” said Donna, straightening out her shirt and pulling her coat on before she squeezed past her out of the bathroom.

“It’s just,” Donna whispered later in the darkened kitchen, her mother’s feet by her head as she laid on her stomach to face her Gramps. “I’ve lost my job, my home, everyone we know. I guess I figured I couldn’t lose anything else, but this...it feels like a part of me is just slipping away, and there’s nothing I can do.”

“I thought you weren’t interested in marks and all that. You said that stuff couldn’t be for you,” he reminded her.

“I know, but maybe I was wrong. I mean, something has to be making this happen.” A thought occurred to her. “You don’t think it’s cos he’s dead, do you? I don’t know when my mark started going away, but he could’ve been in London when that Titanic crashed.”

“Never known it to work that way, sweetheart. Look here.” He sat up, and Donna got onto her knees in order to see as he yanked down the collar of his shirt.

She smiled at the familiar letters. “Gran.”

“Same as ever.” Her grandad shuffled back around to look at her. “See, your grandmother passing on doesn’t change what she meant to me. If you let it, that person changes your whole world. You might pass them on the street and never know it unless you take that chance.”

Donna thought that over. “So you think I’ve lost my chance?”

Her Gramps shrugged. “I’ve no idea what to think.”

Donna kept track of her mark every day now. She wished she’d been paying attention to it before. Little by little it kept going away, like it was eroding. She sat down once with a spare bit of paper and tried to draw the whole thing, so she had some kind of record of it. It was clear in her mind, but the circles and whatnot were all nonsense to her and didn’t come out right whenever she tried to write it down.

“Ah, soulmates,” said Rocco with a knowing smile as he watched her failed attempts. Gramps had told him all about her problem to see if he had any ideas or heard of anything similar. He hadn’t, which Donna wasn’t much surprised by, but had begun asking around all their neighbors to see if anybody had a Donna on their back.

“Back home, you name means lady,” he told her one evening over the scraps they’d all managed to put together for dinner. “Beautiful lady! So, we find you a lord, yes?”

Donna shook her head with a wan smile. “Not sure there’s many lords walking around these days.” That radiation poisoning in the south probably got most.

At night, she didn’t dream of any lords. Instead, there was that same stranger holding her hand or folding her into the kind of warm, safe hug she craved during the day. She would laugh with him, run with him, and very nearly manage to kiss him before being woken by the shouts of the Merchandani children or an army jeep rolling past the house. Donna found herself missing a friend she’d never had more than the ones she’d actually lost.

The promised aid from America never came. Instead, Donna sat with the others and watched alien fat fly up into a spaceship, the fat of sixty million people. The bizarre urge to wave nearly came over her. Donna retreated to the kitchen.

She couldn’t help privately wondering if her mother was right; nothing was ever going to get better. It all felt so pointless, like all they could do was watch and wait for the next disaster.

The whole house pulled together that night, trying to forget for a moment with a bit of singing, only for shots to ring out just outside. Donna followed closely behind her Gramps and Rocco to see a soldier firing on his own jeep as a thick cloud of gas spewed from the exhaust pipe. They couldn’t get it to stop, not even by turning the vehicle off.

Then one of the soldiers look at her with wide eyes. “You, lady. Turn round! Turn around now!”

He pointed his gun at her, and Donna froze. What had she done?

Everyone was shouting; the soldier, her Gramps and Rocco, her mum. He kept pointing his gun. Slowly, Donna turned to show him her back as he kept demanding, her eyes squeezed shut and her arms raised above her head.

“Sorry,” said the soldier. “I thought I saw…” He trailed off, at a loss.

Her grandad started to rip into him for that. It was about the angriest she’d ever seen him.

She might have stuck around to watch, but a familiar flash of light appeared at the bottom of the street. Donna left them all and walked down to it, paying no attention to her mother’s cries for her to come back. Around the corner, she found the blonde.

They walked a bit and sat on a bench, far enough away from any of the army jeeps to be able to breathe just a little easier. The woman explained about the ATMOS devices in the cars and that someone was about to take care of it. Then the sky lit up in flames before clearing completely, the gas gone.

“That was the Torchwood team,” the woman told her. “Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, they gave their lives. And Captain Jack Harkness has been transported to the Sontaran home world. There's no one left.” Donna didn’t like to think about that. This was them when they still had defense? “You're always wearing the same clothes. Why won't you tell me your name?” “None of this was meant to happen,” was the blonde’s non-answer. “There was a man. This wonderful man, and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happening. Donna thought about it. There was only one man they sort of had in common, by a very loose interpretation. “That Doctor?” “You knew him.” Donna looked at her. “Did I? When?” “I think you dream about him sometimes. It's a man in a suit. Tall, thin man. Great hair,” She remarked. “Some really great hair.”

Donna frowned. How did the woman know what she was dreaming about?

“You've travelled with him, Donna. You've travelled with the Doctor in a different world.” “I never met him, and he's dead.” “He died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve, but you were meant to be there. He needed someone to stop him, and that was you,” the woman said. “You made him leave. You saved his life.”

Donna had that same sudden flash of memory, the water raining down all around her in a wedding dress. “Doctor, you can stop now!” She could see the man more clearly now, great hair plastered to his forehead and water soaking his suit as he blinked down at her, like she’d broken him from some terrible trance.

She didn’t understand. She’d been meant to meet him? Like...destiny?

But they weren’t meant to meet. He’d died. Donna had seen it. This woman wasn’t making any sense. She stood from the bench with the heels of her hands pressed to her temples. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Leave me alone.”

“Something’s coming, Donna. Something worse.”

She went on about other universes, and needing the Doctor even though he was dead, and something called the darkness, and it was all just nonsense to her. As incomprehensible as what little remained of her mark.

“Well, what do you keep telling me for?” She finally burst out. “What am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special. I mean, I'm- I'm not. I'm nothing special. I'm a temp. I'm not even that. I'm nothing.” The woman grinned at her, like this was all just some fun game they were playing. “Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation.” Donna shook her head, a nasty sort of smile twisting her lips. “Oh, don't. Just don't. I'm tired. I'm so tired.”

“I need you to come with me,” the blonde insisted.

“Yeah, but it’s not really about me, though, is it?”

That got a frown.

“Cause I figured it out,” Donna continued. “The ‘something on my back’. There isn’t anything.”

The woman leaned slightly to the side. “No,” she said, “not sure what you mean.”

“But it’s disappearing. And that’s what’s different about me, that’s what makes me special or whatever, cause that’s not supposed to happen. Just take a look,” she demanded, pulling at the collar of her coat.

The blonde circled around behind her, slow and sort of wary, then peered down her shirt. “Hold on. This is your mark?”

“Used to be bigger,” Donna told her. “More circles. I could never figure out what they meant, cause they’re nothing like an alphabet.”

“I don’t think they’re even human,” the woman murmured.

“Wait, are you saying my mark’s in alien? Like all those things that have been coming here?” With her luck, her soulmate was one of the ones made out of fat.

“I didn’t know this could happen,” said the blonde, and when Donna looked back the other woman was blinking heavily, as if to stave off tears. “I thought it translated. It has to.”

“Wait, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” the woman said quickly. Then she turned and began hurrying away. “Uh, three weeks, Donna!” She called back in reminder. Before Donna could say anything else, she faded away right in front of her. Like she’d never been there.

Donna couldn’t understand it. She’d thought she had figured out why this lady kept after her, only it turned out her vanishing mark had nothing to do with it.

Three weeks later they took the Colasantos away. Donna thought the image of them in that truck, so resigned and hopeless as it drove off faster than she could run, would never leave her. Nor would her grandfather’s tears. They’d been innocent people, what did it matter that they weren’t English enough for some?

Donna knew it wouldn’t stop there, either. Hadn’t they gotten this spot because the last family missed a payment? They needed money. But the representative she spoke with at the army said she wasn’t qualified and sent her on her way.

She told her mother, who barely left her bed anymore, as much when she got back to the house. “You were right. You said I should’ve worked harder at school. I suppose I’ve always been a disappointment.”

If anything could get her up and in spirits, it had to be that, right? Donna knew her mum could never resist having a go at her, particularly when she knew she was right.

But she didn’t even turn around. “Yeah.”

She found her grandfather out back with his telescope, one of the few possessions they’d managed to hang onto. If there was any benefit to all this, he didn’t need to climb a hill to stargaze; there wasn’t much light pollution in Britain anymore.

He didn’t ask about her job hunt; he could probably already tell by the look on her face.

“How’s your mark?”

“Almost gone,” she sighed. “Figures. He must have seen where my life was going and said ‘No thanks’. Not like I can do anything right, anyway.” She looked at him as he fiddled with the telescope. “I always imagined, your old age, I'd have put a bit of money by. Make you comfy. Never did. I'm just useless.”

He didn’t reply.

Donna narrowed her eyes. “You're supposed to say, no you're not.”

“Ha, it must be the alignment.” He kept fiddling with the telescope, growing increasingly agitated.

“What’s wrong?”

He had her look through the lens, but all Donna could see was darkness even as her Gramps insisted he’d had it pointed at Orion.

“It was there. An entire constellation. Your mark’s not the only thing going missing.” He sat back and gaped up at the dark sky. “Oh, my God! Donna, look. The stars are going out.”

She didn’t have to search very far for the blonde woman. When she found her, all Donna said was, “I’m ready.”

She was lead to a Land Rover, and they were driven away from Leeds. The whole journey to wherever they were going, the blonde kept sneaking glances at her.

“What?” Donna asked when her patience inevitably snapped.

“Sorry, it’s just. I should say sorry.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re coming with me, Donna, and sorry, so sorry, but you’re going to die.”

They arrived at a warehouse. It was filled with more of those soldiers in their red berets and some scientists in lab coats. There was a circle of mirrors and a few feet behind that some blue box that Donna couldn’t seem to stop looking at, even when a woman stepped forward and saluted the blonde at her side.

“Ma’am.”

The woman dismissed the officer’s — Captain Erisa Magambo — formality, though it turned out the reason for the captain’s address was that she didn’t know the blonde’s name either. Apparently that was because of not wanting to wreck things with realities by saying too much, though Donna didn’t get why she’d told her so much about a dead Doctor she was supposed to have met, then.

The blonde and Captain Magambo started discussing whether something was awake. That turned out to be the blue box. There were a bunch of wires and cables running out of the doors and to the circle of mirrors which Donna thought she ought not to touch, but the blonde told her to go inside the box anyway.

Donna did. “No way.”

She couldn’t believe it, and had to dart in and out a few times just to confirm what she was seeing. How did that huge room fit inside that little box? It was too weird!

Donna had another flash of memory; this time the man in the suit was walking along at her side and saying, “It’s bigger on the inside, that’s all.”

Had she really done this before?

The blonde woman told her about the ship, that it had belonged to the Doctor and was dying without him. The whole world seemed to be dying without him, and Donna still couldn’t quite wrap her head around someone like that needing someone like her.

“Do you want to see it?” The blonde asked her, nodding to her back.

“No,” was her first answer. But she’d come all this way, and for whatever reason everything was going to get worse if she didn’t go through with it. “Oh, go on.”

She was led into the circle of mirrors and told to stand there as they activated it. For a moment Donna was blinded by the lights, but as she blinked the spots away she caught sight of her reflection — and the giant insect hanging onto her back.

Her breathing picked up, and she tried to hold back the panic as the woman explained.

“It feeds off time by changing time. By making someone's life take a different turn, like er, meetings never made, children never born, a life never loved. But with you, it's—”

“But I never did anything important.”

“Yeah, you did. One day, that thing made you turn right instead of left.”

Donna tried to think. Turning right? How many times had she done that? “When was that?”

“Oh, you wouldn't remember. It was the most ordinary day in the world. But by turning right, you never met the Doctor, and the whole world just changed around you.”

For some reason, Gramps’ words came back to her: “If you let it, that person changes your whole world. You might pass them on the street and never know it unless you take that chance.”

“I didn’t lose my chance,” she realized.

The blonde looked up. “What?”

“I didn’t lose my chance,” she repeated. “I didn’t miss it. It got taken from me. By this—this thing.” Donna gestured at her back. “That’s why my mark’s disappeared, cos my whole life changed. I never met him.”

“There’s a lot of people you were supposed to meet on your travels, Donna,” the blonde told her.

“This is not relevant to the mission,” said Captain Magambo.

“But I don’t get it,” said Donna, ignoring her.“You said I was meant to meet him.” She stared at the blonde, a horrible realization coming over her. “Were you lying? You just needed me for this, to be some kind of host?”

“No. No, Donna, I was wrong. You’re not just a host. We’re getting separate readings from you, and they’ve been there since you were born. I thought it was just the Doctor we needed, but it’s the both of you. The Doctor and Donna Noble, together—but to stop the stars from going out, not anything to do with marks.”

Donna felt overwhelmed. The woman had kept saying she was meant to be with this Doctor. Were they soulmates or weren’t they? She couldn’t concentrate while she could see the bug; it was just too horrible. “Turn it off, please.”

The captain did so.

“It’s still there, though,” she said. The blonde nodded. “What can I do to get rid of it?”

“You’re going to travel in time.”

Donna was kitted out with a jacket that weighed about half what she did with all the wires attached to it, a fancy watch of some kind, and a glass of water.

“Just remember, when you get to the junction, change the car's direction by one minute past ten.”

Their rudimentary machine was beginning to power up. Donna tried to prepare herself; she had no idea what time travel would be like, even though she’d apparently done it in another life. And would do it again, once she’d fixed everything.

She tried to recall those brief flashes from her dreams and memories of the man the blonde had claimed was the Doctor. She’d said he thought Donna was special. What did Donna think of him? Was it really worth risking everything on a time travel stunt none of these people were sure would work, just to get back to a world where they were together?

The only answer she could find within herself was yes.

“I’m ready,” Donna said aloud.

“One minute past ten,” the woman reminded her.

“Because I understand now,” Donna continued. “You said I was going to die, but you mean this whole world is going to blink out of existence. But that's not dying, because a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive.”

The blonde said nothing.

“That's right, isn't it? I don't die. If I change things, I don't die. That's- that's right, isn't it?” The pitying smile that came to the woman’s face made Donna‘s heart plummet. “I'm sorry.”

“But I can't die. I've got a future. With the Doctor. You told me!”

“Activate!” Shouted the captain. Sparks flew, and then Donna felt as though she was being pulled across an impossible distance in an unimaginably short time. The air left her lungs and she fell forward onto hands and knees.

The first thing Donna was aware of was the sounds around her. People walking and talking, cars driving, music from radios and speakers. A city. Her home, as if it had never been destroyed.

Donna could only gasp with joy for a brief moment before she realized something—this was Sutton Court. She was meant to be on Little Sutton Street. “I’m half a mile away. I’m half a mile away!”

She checked the watch she’d been given and felt another jolt of panic.

“Four minutes? Oh, my God.”

Donna leapt to her feet and started running. She couldn’t miss this, she just couldn’t. She didn’t even know what would happen if she did. But she had to stop herself turning right to ensure the survival of London, to keep the world from going to hell, and to save a man from drowning.

She ran until her leg muscles were burning, and the air was stabbing her lungs. It was 9:59 and she had only just made it to the end of Ealing Road. There was nothing left in her. She couldn’t run anymore.

“I’m not going to get there.”

Donna remembered the blonde’s words: “You’re going to die.”

A truck was trundling down the road towards her, and Donna finally understood what the plan had been all along. She closed her eyes and stepped off the pavement.

There were screeching brakes, then she was flying through the air and hitting the ground. Maybe it was shock, but she couldn’t quite feel the pain. There were people all around, and she didn’t know when they’d gotten there or what they were saying. She couldn’t even move.

Then through the crowd came the blonde. The woman leaned over her, face impassive. Donna wondered how she’d gotten here.

“Tell him this. Two words.”

Just as Donna’s eyes closed, the blonde whispered in her ear.

“Bad Wolf.”

Over that, she could hear her own voice. “I’m going left...left...left…”

Everything hurt, and nothing made sense. She was dead, but she wasn’t, and Donna screamed as time rewound and reformed.

The street and the blonde were gone, and she was sitting back in the fortune teller’s tent, everything coming back to her in a rush. Turning left, the job at HC Clements, meeting Lance, the wedding, the Doctor. It all made so much sense, and she was alive, and the universe felt right again.

Something fell off her, and Donna stood to see it was that same huge bug, it’s legs writhing for a moment before they stilled.

“What the hell is that?”

You were so strong,” said the woman. She was looking at Donna with a kind of terror. “What are you? What will you be? What will you be?!”

Before Donna could say anything, the fortune teller fled out the back.

Donna spun back around as the tent flap at the front was pushed up, revealing the Doctor. “Everything alright?”

He must have been looking for her. He was alive and safe and smiling and Donna had never felt such a relief before.

“Oh, God,” she gasped, almost stumbling as she came forward and threw her arms around him.

The Doctor returned her hug, though when she pulled back asked, “What was that for?”

How could she really explain? That she’d lived through nearly two years without him, and it had been awful and cold and lonely? That she hadn’t known what she was missing, only that it was so important? That she loved him?

Donna merely shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said, and hugged him again. In his arms, it all just felt like some horrible nightmare, and even now Donna was having trouble remembering it all.

“Hold on,” said the Doctor, stepping back but leaving his hands on her waist as he stared at something on the ground behind her. “What’s this?”

Donna looked over her shoulder and shuddered. Right, the bug. “That woman put it on my back, I think.”

He moved around her and crouched down to examine the thing. “It’s dead. How’d that happen?”

“I don’t know.” Donna watched him pick it up and move to the little table. He grabbed one of the incense sticks and began prodding at it. “It was strange. She was going on about me turning right instead of left and changing my life or whatever, only it all went sort of wrong.”

“Wrong?”

Donna took the unoccupied chair. “Well all these horrible things kept happening, aliens and whatnot, and no one could stop them because—well, you’d died.”

The Doctor stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. “Because you turned right?”

“I turned right and took this different job my mum wanted me to and cause I never went to HC Clements—”

“You never appeared in the TARDIS,” he finished for her. “Ah.” He nodded to himself, as if it made perfect sense that he’d died.

Donna reached out hesitantly and placed a hand on his arm. “Doctor—”

“The real question is, if I died, how can we be having this conversation? See, this thing is one of the Trickster’s Brigade.” He prodded at the beetle again. “Changes a life in tiny little ways. Most times, the universe just compensates around it, but with you? Great big parallel world. Funny thing is, seems to be happening a lot to you.”

Donna took her hand away. “How do you mean?”

“Well, the Library and then this. The fact you can even remember so much about this is something, even.”

“I remembered stuff from here when I was there,” she told him.

The same thing had happened in the Library. Miss Evangelista had pointed it out, that she’d been protected from the integration.

Donna shrugged it off. “Just goes with the job, I suppose.”

“Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna,” said the Doctor. “I met you once, then I met your grandfather, then I met you again. In the whole wide universe, I met you for a second time.” He was staring at her with an expression she couldn’t quite place. “It's like something's binding us together.”

Donna sat back in surprise. That kind of talk people usually reserved for soulmates, and they were hardly— “Oh!”

“Donna?”

Her hand had darted to her back, and Donna tried her best to morph it into some kind of neck massage as the Doctor watched her with worry. But her mark. Had it come back?

Donna couldn’t explain the bubble of anxiety that still dwelled within her at the thought. Hadn’t she been wishing to get rid of it for weeks now? She knew she loved the Doctor, but she couldn’t quite forget the panic in that world as her mark had slowly faded away, like a door closing on her future.

Sure, she’d gotten things mixed up about who her soulmate was—that was one thing she’d never be able to tell him about that parallel world and live it down. But if the life she’d gotten back included a chance of meeting her actual soulmate...could she pass it up?

Somehow, not getting the job at HC Clements and not meeting the Doctor changed her destiny. Changed it so severely she lost her soulmate. That meant he had to be the key, didn't he?

And what if he was? Did she really want to know after all? Donna found she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that it was important somehow.

“Look, I need you to do something for me, but before that...I’ve sort of got to come clean about something.”

She hesitated a moment longer. Could she really do this? Her life as it was now, that was what she’d dreamed of and died for in that other world.

The Doctor was watching her with those big brown eyes full of earnest concern. “Donna, whatever it is, you can tell me.”

The date, the necklace, everything—it wouldn’t be right, wouldn’t be fair to him if she wasn’t honest, would it?

“I lied about not having a mark—and I don't want to hear it, cause I already know about yours.”

“What?” The Doctor yelped.

“I’m not upset,” she said, for he’d lost all his color, and if his eyes grew any wider, they might just pop out of his skull. “I’m just saying, there's no reason for either of us to be upset since we both lied.”

“You know,” he repeated. “About my mark. And you're okay with it?”

“Of course I’m okay with it.” What, did he think he needed her permission to have one? “But see, my mark’s in some other language. It’s not from Earth, and the Library didn’t know it. Even the TARDIS won’t translate it for me. But I’m thinking maybe you’d know it or be able to find it if you don’t know what it says.”

The Doctor said nothing. He still seemed thrown by her confession, which she supposed was understandable. Probably wondering why she’d brought it up now after all this time. He had that look where he wasn’t actually seeing what he was staring at.

“Spaceman,” Donna tried again. He blinked and refocused on her. “Would you read it for me?”

His mouth opened, but it took a couple tries for him to form his answer. “Course.”

Donna took a deep breath. This was it. “Okay.” She stood up and turned her back to him, then held her hair to the side as she tugged her shirt collar down.

The silence was absolute save for her breathing. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected; a name rattled off, an exclamation of the language of origin, a sorry? But the moment stretched on...and on...and on. He had to have something by now, right?

“Doctor?” When he still said nothing. Donna turned around.

He was absolutely thunderstruck. She didn’t think he’d ever been so stunned, not even when she’d appeared on his TARDIS or spotted him across the room at Adipose Industries.

A nervous smile rose to her lips. “What’s that look about? What’s it say?”

Something was wrong, had to be.

“Doctor?”