Midnight ⋆ Doctor Who²

57. The Great War

WHEN THE ELEVATOR BEAMS THEM UP, AURORA IS SMUSHED BETWEEN CRAIG AND THE DOCTOR. They both reached for her in a blind panic, and now she could hardly breathe. They let go of each other as they quickly step out of the elevator.

Val stares at them. "How did you get in there?"

Craig is a bit too preoccupied to even care about the implications. "Alfie!"

Val giggles as she hands Alfie to him. "Here's your daddy."

Alfie coos in his father's arms, and the Doctor smiles. "That was another review. Ten out of ten."

Aurora, still a bit out of breath, gives a thumbs up. "You go, dude. I pulled a lung there."

"The Cybermen," Craig realizes. "They blew up. I blew them up with love."

"No, that's impossible," the Doctor immediately counters. "And also grossly sentimental and over simplistic. You destroyed them because of the deeply ingrained hereditary human trait to protect one's own genes." He notices Aurora's look. "Which in turn triggered a, a, a..."

"Yeah," she stops him, patting Craig's back. "Love. You blew them up with love."

Aurora sticks with the Doctor as he explains to everyone that they're safe. She's not sure why he does it, but she just sticks around. They were never even aware that they were in danger, not to the actual extent of it anyway. But she stays. In case he decides to leave again.

"The building should be totally safe structurally, and of course the bonded disillium contained the explosion," he tells Kelly.

Kelly stares blankly at him. "Right. Why are you telling me all this?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I," Aurora hums.

From the counter, Craig and Val are looking at them. "Are those two married then?" Val, the way they were behaving felt way too domestic.

Craig snorts. "No, no." He stops. "I don't think so. Oh god, are they?"

The pair decide that it's time to walk to them, and he quickly shuts his mouth. If they are, well, right now is not a happy time in their marriage, is it?

"Thank you for your help, Val," the Doctor tells her with a smile, stopping Craig's train of thoughts. "Good noticing. Keep them peeled."

"I will." She smiles at Aurora. "I'm glad you two made up. Attorneys are expensive aren't they?"

Aurora blinks, frowning, and then understands. "Oh." She thinks they're married. And having a divorce, apparently.

"Ah," the Doctor realizes too.

"How do you mean?" Craig asks, clueless.

Aurora notices the Doctor walking away and frowns, following him.

"Well, it is a sad thing, it's good that they made up," Val goes on. "It's good that they had some help."

"Wait. Hang on a sec. So you think they're married and...?"

"Having a divorce."

Craig bursts out in laughter. "What? Them? No way!" He turns around to tease them, only to realize they're gone. "Doctor? Aurora?"

"Now where have they rushed off to?" Val says with a wink.

Craig stops smiling, his heart stopping. "They're gone." He knows that goodbye isn't their thing – well, the Doctor's anyway, Aurora always tries to fix it – but that was a bit abrupt.

Well, in reality, they're just in the street, next to the TARDIS. The Doctor parked it there when he got to the store. He's walking towards it, head hanging, not realizing that Aurora is behind him. Which, frankly, doesn't sound right to her.