She learned it the hard way. Some people were never meant to exist. Not even the Doctor wants her as a companion. But then the Master saves her from certain death and discovers that this human girl might be of more use to him than he expected.
Ranki...
The Doctor glared at Wilf, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "C... cleaner?"
"Would be far worse without me," came a snarky remark from the Master.
"That's all you have to say?" asked the Doctor in a whiny tone.
"Well..." Wilf bobbed his head from left to right. "I mean... it is impressive, Doctor. You fit this all into that old phone box. But if you can travel through time...I guess this isn't too special, innit?"
The Time Lord in question let out an indignant whimpering, much to the Master's delight, judging by his barely contained chuckle.
"But what now?" Donna stepped between them. "What's happening with the cars? And what about those Sontranas?"
"Sontarans." The Doctor weaved a hand through his hair and looked around. "Martha and Unit are looking into it. Not much we can do here until tomorrow. She'll call if anything happens sooner."
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Which is how we ended up in space again, the TARDIS idly floating next to our moon, allowing a stunning view on earth and the stars.
"Never thought I'd see it like that," muttered Wilf, still astonished about the view. "Must really be the end of me then, I guess." He chuckled.
But Donna gave him a dark glare. "Don't talk like that, Gramps. You've got enough time left. You're not that old."
His chuckle died down, but a spark stayed in his eyes when he looked at her, then at me. We both stood next to him by the door. It was clear he had accepted his fate already, he wouldn't fight whatever would come, whenever it would come.
It made me wonder if the Doctor was the same. He stood by the console and seemed to be in dark thoughts. So I left the pair alone and stepped to him, nudging him lightly with a smile. "You okay?"
The Doctor blinked a few times and turned his head, returning the smile after some seconds. "Yes, yes, completely okay. Always okay."
"You were having such a dark look, though."
"Oh?" His eyes flicked towards the Nobles, but didn't linger. "I... Oh, I'm just happy to see them happy, is all." Which was the perfect opposite of an explanation.
"Isn't it strange," I muttered. "You're centuries older than each of us. But you don't seem like an old man. Not like..." Shrugging, I turned away.
"Now it's you with the dark look." The Doctor laughed and ruffled through my short hair. "Actually, you were having that look the whole time already. What's on your mind?"
From the side I glanced at him, unsure whether I even could put my thoughts into coherent sentences. Instead I looked around to see if the Master had come back, but he still was somewhere inside the TARDIS, unwilling to spend his time among so many humans. Somehow he had appeared to be even more grumpy than usual.
