ashes ➝ Doctor Who²

XXXX

"I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best, but you know what? I am good."
- Martha, Last of the Time Lords

The Doctor had backed the Master into a corner before the spheres flew off and the two of them disappeared. There was very little time to think, Martha reunited with her family and Penelope just held onto Jack for a while. Thankful there was someone left.

He grinned at her as they carefully made their way through the hallways, happy to have her back. It had been a hard couple of months. Sidling up next to her, he shoved her shoulder.

"You missed the election." She rolled her eyes, trying to force down the grin she refused to show.

"No. Who won."

They truly had missed each other. But real catching up can start after the world and their friends have been saved. Jack doesn't need to know about Jasper. No one but her and Martha know about him, and after this no one else will ever have to.

As they came up on the Paradox Machine, some shots came from the doorway, causing Penelope to stop the men from advancing. One of the guards looked on in horror.

"We can't get in. We'd get slaughtered." Jack laughed, walking around his boss, holding his gun up.

"Yeah. Happens to me a lot." He runs into the room, guns blazing. Penelope could hardly believe him, rolling her eyes once again, smiling dejectedly at the other guards.

"God he really is an idiot." She held her gun high, smiling at the guys before backing into the room helping out her friend.

They had taken down the spheres, and they would've been celebrating if not for the fact they were standing in a cannibalised TARDIS. Penelope leant against one of the coral pillars, and she could almost feel her calling out, screaming.

There weren't enough words to describe how much she had missed standing in the TARDIS. It was hard to admit that she missed the Doctor, but maybe she needed just a little bit longer.

There was a violent shake to the ship and Penelope paled, worried for Martha and her family. Grabbing onto Jack's arm, she pulled him from the TARDIS, and they sprinted down the corridor, followed closely by those guards that did absolutely nothing to help earlier.

Getting into the control room, Penelope had to quickly skid to a stop, being caught by the Doctor. He smiled down at her, one she returned. It was strange, after months of looking up at John Smith, it was weird to see the Doctor. The eyes are different. Different, but not wrong, not like how it felt before at the Lazarus event. He pulls her down to the floor, shouting over to everyone as the rumbling worsens.

"Everyone get down! Time is reversing!" Not far from them, the Master is hanging onto some railings, but he watches the two closely. He couldn't understand where she had come from, but he was grateful, it had been a long time since anyone had made him feel the way he did. Not even Lucy got to him, but as she threatened him, it was like Christmas had come early. As it calmed down, the Doctor helped up his old companion, making sure she was okay before going around to everyone else.

"The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning." She held onto his arm, a man from UNIT echoing in the background, and he looked down at her.

"Time's gone back a year?" There was a break in her voice, something that really hurt his chest.

"Yes, go give Jasper a call, I can handle everything here." She smiled softly, he had missed that, and she hugged him briefly before leaving the room, getting her phone out with a wide smile on her face.

Closing the door behind her, to try and get away from the noise, she quickly pulled up Jasper's number, waiting for him to answer. She kept getting flashes of him, it wasn't something that was going to leave her anytime soon. She couldn't even scrub the blood off of her sleeve and every time she caught herself staring at it, her heart would drop.

The phone only rang twice before it was answered, and the frantic voice of her best friend came through.

"Penelope! You're back! I can't talk long, the Prime Minister just got shot."

"Yeah.. uh, yeah I'm on the ship now dealing with it. Don't worry about that." She heard him slow down, his breathing becoming less erratic. The confusion was evident, even without either of them talking.

"What-

"Why don't you take some time off? Go on holiday, or something. Get away from the city. I can take care of things here." He was quiet, even more confused than before and not getting any answers out of his boss.

"Are you okay?" She really hoped he couldn't hear the way her heart almost stopped.

"I'm great Jasp, I was just gone a while, you deserve some time away as well."

"You were gone for a week Penelope, what's this about?" She held the phone to her chest, taking a moment to calm her breathing down.

Why can't this stupid man just listen to her? She needed time before seeing him again, or else she might actually never get over that day.

"Look I have to go sort out this mess, I'll see you in a week." Penelope hung up, not able to deal with Jasper arguing with her. It was hard to even hear from him, so she really couldn't see him right now. No matter how much she just wanted to go to him and sit in his living room, watching shitty cop shows for hours, she can't look at him. Not yet.