To Be Astrid

Chapter 8 - The Years Without River

The years without River -

Astrid never chose her own schedule again. She waited out her turn to pick her task for a day and took whatever was left in the end. Usually that turned out to be boring, redundant work that gave her no excitement whatsoever but she managed to get back to Jeremy's flat early on in her day. That way, she tended to be there before him and practically started living there. More and more of her things accumulated in his place and when he came home she'd look right at home, reading on the couch or cooking supper.

He enjoyed it. He loved finding her there, not a care in the world - at least that's how it looked. She was a great cook, much better than him, so coming home to a supper cooked by her was a delight to him. In turn he'd wake her up with her mug of coffee in bed that she could enjoy there and when she'd come out of the bedroom, breakfast would be ready and the mess she'd left cooking dinner was cleaned away.

And she loved it. Never had she woken up so gently to such a lovely face and the grandiose smell of fresh coffee. She loved cooking for two, she always made too much for herself, if she even cooked then. Life felt normal. They'd fallen into a domestic routine that she enjoyed more than she'd like to admit.

All her life she'd seen herself travelling through space and time in the Tardis, her home. But being here, with Jeremy, in a lovely little flat, working "9 to 5", having mealtimes and no strange occurrences, it was nice. Occasionally there was a date night. They'd take turns planning them and always tried to do something the other didn't know but would enjoy.

She'd visit his family with him every now and then. She'd become an integrated part of Sunday lunches, those Christmases she'd spent with them and other family festivities. She'd phone her mum every now and then. She noticed how she'd have a British accent in those chats. Never did she have the newly acclaimed Scottish one, with the slightly lower, raspier voice. And as much as she enjoyed hearing the voice of the regeneration that had raised her, it saddened her to think how hard it would be to find her again, in the right order.

After about a year of dating she'd properly, permanently moved into Jeremy's flat and they'd signed an agreement from HR about the nature of romantic relationships between colleagues. It was great. They woke up together, fell asleep together, spent most of their free time together, and since they didn't have to move across several hallways and floors to see each other they had so much more time.

After two years of dating, a routine had implemented into their lives. There were days where they had so much to do that they came back and enjoyed comfortable silence and other days where they had so much to tell the other person that the other could just smile and nod along. They'd do their paperwork together, plan all their holidays around each other and for any sort of family event she'd join him - there, of course people would start asking when they'd get married and have kids, which finally brought them to an important aspect he'd never thought to ask.

"You two would make the cutest babies. I can't believe you haven't told us when it's happening yet", Jeremy's aunt laughed, slightly tipsy with her sparkling wine in one hand and the other reaching out to Astrid's stomach teasingly.

She laughed uncomfortably and tried to squirm away from her subtly, "Haha, well, I'm not quite sure that works."

"How do you mean?", Jeremy's face suddenly dropped, having previously worn an expression of amusement over his aunt's behaviour.

"Oh, I don't know, just- I mean, I don't know if our species are compatible in that way. And our jobs don't really allow for babies, right?", she awkwardly tried to end the conversation quickly.

"I never thought of Stormcage as a permanent solution", he shrugged with a little pout before his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "What do you mean, our species aren't compatible?"