A Place in Time (8/30)

[amberfocus]

                                                                                          Banner by Megz33

Chapter Eight:  Beyond the Sun

“He’s just standing there like an idiot,” Donna said. “Go and talk to him.”

“You go and talk to him if you want to so badly,” Martha said not looking up from the book she was reading.

“But it’s been three hours, Martha! He hasn’t moved at all.”

Martha rolled her eyes. “He’s just thinking. He’s remembering her, that’s all. He does that sometimes. You’ll get used to it.”

“I don’t want to get used to it. I want him to be normal,” Donna said.

“He’s a 900 something year old Time Lord. He’ll never be normal,” Martha said dryly.

“Well, apart from the obvious. He’s moping.”

“He’s thinking!” Martha took a deep breath and ramped back down on her irritation with Donna. She knew Donna was worried about the Doctor and didn’t know where to put those feelings, so she blathered on incessantly.

Martha put a finger down on her book to mark her spot and finally looked up at the other woman. “Donna, he’s going to be fine. He’s just…the Doctor. And sometimes he does this. It doesn’t mean anything. I’d be more worried if he had that psychotic glint in his eye he sometimes gets. This is nothing. He’ll be fine.”

“Well, I’m going to go talk to him,” Donna said.

“Okay.”

“Will you come with me?”

“Oh, for the love of--.” Martha took a deep breath and got a hold of herself again. She slipped a bookmark into the book and set it down on the side table. “Yes, Donna,” she said simply. “I’ll come with you.”

By the time they walked to the control room the brilliant colors had disappeared and the room had turned silver. No ugly swirls had appeared this time around. The Doctor was watching the view screen intently as it glowed silver.

“We’re on our way,” he said to no one in particular. “It won’t be long now.”

“Doctor,” said Donna.

He turned about. “What is it, Donna?”

“Are you all right?” she asked him trying not to show just how concerned she was for him.

“I’m always all right,” he said turning back around to look at the view screen.

“But you’re not, though. You always say that but you aren’t always. And I don’t think you are right now and neither does Martha.”

“I’m going to be all right,” he said. “Fairly soon, even. We’re almost there.”

*****************************************

It was two days before the light in the fissure turned golden and another day before they popped out of the fissure and into a new universe. The Doctor took careful readings and ran the coordinates through the computer. He beamed at the readout. “Here we are. Rose’s universe. A little over three years for her since we were…lost to each other.”

Martha looked up at the view screen. “But where in Rose’s universe are we?” she asked.

“Beyond the sun. The TARDIS is shaking off some of the Void chill. The fissure is very, very cold and she’s been in there a long time between this trip and the one that went wrong. She’ll drift for a few hours to get the chill out of her. Then we’ll go ahead and materialize on Earth and go find Rose.” The Doctor’s voice was quiet and introspective.

“It’s going to be a very busy day. I’m going to go and get some rest.” And with that the Doctor strode from the control room.

“I’m not used to having him so quiet,” Donna said. “He’s generally so hyperactive.”

Martha shrugged. “I think that last trip bothered him more than he’s letting on. So much of it was out of his control and he does like to be in charge of things. He’s going to be fine. The minute he sees Rose, he’ll be fine.”

*****************************************

“Rose.” His mind drifted before him in space, towards the little green and blue planet that his Rose was chained to. “We’ll be together soon, Rose. I promise.”

“Where are you, Doctor?” Her voice, spoken so clearly inside his head, thrilled him. “Am I only dreaming this?”

“You are dreaming, but I am not. I’m close, Rose. I’m so close. Floating in the cold, waiting for you beyond the sun. I’ve always been waiting for you,” he told her.

“It’s really going to happen?” her voice asked cracking slightly and he could tell she was afraid to hope.

“We’ll find each other. Soon.”

“You remembered me?”

“I could never forget my Rose.”

*****************************************

Rose sat up in bed, her heart pounding wildly. This dream was so different, so much like the night he had told her to go to the place where they had said their good-byes. It seemed real. It was real. He had been here. He had promised they would find each other again.

She had thought she would never hear his voice in her head again. Perhaps it was able to come through the breach in the Void. Maybe Jack had found the Doctor and had told him about the breach. Maybe he had figured out a way to come through.

She stopped herself. She clamped down hard on her emotions. Yes, it had been more than just a dream, but no she wasn’t going to let herself sail off into flights of fancy. Not yet. Not until she knew for sure.

Rose sighed and threw the covers off, dressing quickly then padding down the stairs. She had come to stay at her parent’s house over the weekend. A quiet sound of muted voices issued from the screening room. She poked her head around the door and saw her mother sitting with her little brother Johnny asleep in her lap.

“Can’t sleep, Rose?” her mother asked softly.

“He called me, Mum,” she said.

“Who did, then?” Her mother absently stroked the side of the little boy’s head.

“He did. The Doctor. He called me. Just like for Norway.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you’re just dreaming. You know the Void was sealed off. There’s no way it could be true.” Jackie’s eyes were full of sympathy for her daughter.

“There’s a breach, Mum. In Cardiff. The entrance to the Void is open just a little.”

“Enough to go through?” There was deep worry in Jackie’s eyes.

“No. But enough to get messages through. I’ve heard from Captain Jack.”

“Were you going to tell me about this before you left in the morning?”

“I was planning on it at breakfast. But he’s calling me, Mum. I need to go back now. I just wanted to say good-bye before I left.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you’re just going to get your heart broken again. Please don’t get your hopes up over a dream.”

“It wasn’t a dream, Mum. I felt him. He’s close. I know it. It doesn’t matter what you say to me, Mum. My heart knows.” Rose kept her voice low so as not to wake her brother, but the passion in it was high.

Finally, Jackie nodded. “You would know. Drive carefully. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”  They hugged and kissed good-bye over the sleeping form of Johnny.

It was only when she was halfway to Cardiff that she realized in her haste that she had left her TARDIS key on the bedside table next to her bed. And if she’d had it at that moment she would have realized it was glowing golden and burning hot.

Ch. 9:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/49222.html 

Comments

[wish-wielder.livejournal.com]

But you’re not, though. You always say that but you aren’t always. And I don’t think you are right now and neither does Martha.”

Go, Donna - call him on his lies! (Is it insanely obvious how much I love her? xD)

“I’m going to be all right,” he said. “Fairly soon, even."

Again with the too much smiling. =) But GUH, that dream! See, you've got me scared now; I keep thinking he's gonna show up 'n she's gonna have green eyes or something. xD I doubt it, but still. AND THE KEY. I'm not gonna worry, though - 'cause it's at the Tylers, so even if she isn't there when he shows up Jacks can tell him where she is (JACKIE! <3).

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Donna's fabulous. I've loved her from Runaway Bride and she's just so close to the way I've written her in this entire series, I'm so happy they didn't screw her up! Nope, no green-eyed Roses. I only do that once because people expect it twice.