ignite
/ɪɡˈnʌɪt/
catch fire or cause to catch fire.
•✽•
Fool me once, Doctor, show me the stars.
Give me a reason to believe in the Universe and I will fall at your feet.
Bring me the change and the good and all that will be.
Take me to the edge of...
That's what you would think if you could see her. Breathless gasps for air in between guilt ridden sobs that made her feel sick as they wracked her entire body. You didn't even have to look that close to see that she was physically shaking.
The only thing keeping her from the floor was Jasper, who kept a tight hold of the woman as she broke down in his arms.
Somewhere behind him, he knew the Doctor was still sat against the wall. He didn't even have to look, he didn't want to. Despite barely knowing Penelope, Jasper was aware of how kind she was, and the way the Doctor treated her for something out of her control was so.. wrong.
He felt her entire body shudder again, and he looked down at her. She has stopped crying, but that distant look on her face is haunting. He saw her mouth move but didn't hear anything.
"Penelope, I can't hear you." She took in a deep breath and looked up to him.
"We were going to make brownies. We made some for Jackie and-" a look of horror crossed her face again, and tears pooled in the corner of her eyes.
"Penelope?"
"Jackie and Pete are gone as well. And Mickey, and Jake. I didn't get to say goodbye. I didn't- I couldn't-" she started to cry again, and he lowered them both to the floor. Mainly to make it easier for her.
"Take the time you need." She continued to cry, interspersed with deep breaths that made her feel more sick than before. Jasper heard footsteps approaching them, and turned to look. The Doctor was standing at the table a couple steps from them. Jasper nodded, "sir."
He said nothing. His face had fallen and his eyes were dark. Jasper did not recognise this man. Looking away from the two, he went to walk away, until Penelope called out to him.
"Doctor! W-Wait, where are you going?" Jasper expected him to keep going - kind of hoped for it - so that he wouldn't become an outsider to their conversation. But he finally looked at her.
"The TARDIS."
"Could I at least get a minute to just sit and grieve?" He looked away, towards a window he couldn't possibly see out of.
"You can have all the time you need. You aren't coming with me."
She was dying, Jasper was sure of it. In that moment he swears that he felt her heart stop. She was barely audible, and any sound she did get out was blurred. "What?"
"I can't take you with me knowing-" The Doctor looked down at his shoes, trying not to cry. He was so angry with her. It was hot and dirty and the anger stuck to him, thoughts going a thousand miles linking her to everything that had gone wrong today. All the times Torchwood was mentioned, her response to each one. Every time one thought ended, another 3 began and all of them were blaming her.
"Knowing? Knowing what? Doctor, please."
"Knowing that, at any any point you could have mentioned Torchwood. This could have been avoided, you could have done something to stop this. You weren't even going to be here."
"That's not fair. That's not fair and you know it." She tried to stand, hot tears smearing her vision and drowning her freckles. "How could I have known any of this would have happened? You can't put this on me."
"Yes I can." He turned to leave, only casting a look back at her once. "This is your fault."
Hands deep in his pockets and tears in his eyes, the Doctor walked away from Penelope Adaams. Leaving her to cry in the arms of a stranger in the building that took everything from him.
Penelope Adaams felt like she was dying.
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