belle, doctor who

forty-three

The Doctor comes out of Craig's work to find Belle standing there with a new haircut. He gasps just as Craig does. Her hair looks like it did when the Doctor had met her. Tears swarm in his eyes.

"You dyed your hair!" the Doctor exclaims, hugging her and lifting it as he felt it.

"Yeah!" Belle says. "That's why I didn't come. I'm sorry."

"It's okay! I wasn't expecting you to come anyway, but Craig did and I was wondering if you had come with him too!"

"I did," Belle says, "but I... got distracted."

"Got distracted?" The Doctor raises an eyebrow. She blushed. "How?"

"She met some man named Maverick," Craig says, "and a little girl was with him. You should keep an eye on your girlfriend there, Doctor."

Belle glares at Craig. "Dude," she says, hearing how American she sounded, "you don't know the whole story."

"Maverick?" the Doctor questions. He realises how they were back in time. "Oh–"

"Long story short, he's my parent's best friend," Belle tells Craig as they leave.

"Then how come he didn't know who you were before?" Craig asks. Belle turns her face so Craig can't see the pain on her face, but the Doctor notices it and grabs her hand to squeeze it.

•••

Craig finally knew all about the Doctor and Belle just by the Doctor smacking his forehead with his. Craig was now their fangirl — or fanboy. They hear a crash and Craig panics. "People are dying up there!" Craig says, and it becomes a time loop. Belle looks over at the Doctor.

"Doctor? Belle?" Amy asks as the time loop stops.

"Hang on," the Doctor tells Amy. He stops Belle. "You're not following. Craig, come on. Someone's dying up there."

"What?" Belle asks in disbelief. "Why can't I go?"

"It might be dangerous," the Doctor told her. "I can't have you going in there without knowing what's going to happen."

"Everything with you is dangerous!" Belle says. "I'm a Time Lady for crying out loud!"

"But you're not from Gallifrey!" the Doctor shouts. Craig panics again.

"C'mon Doctor!" Craig says. "We need to go. That's Sophie up there!"

Belle crosses her arms. The Doctor frowns and heads upstairs without her.

Why did he always do this with her? She wanted to save her new friend.

She sighs as the door closes and heads for a walk outside, but decides to sit outside of the apartment door and sob. All she wanted to do was help the Doctor. How hard was that?

•••

The second story of Craig's apartment had been a spaceship this entire time. The Doctor had almost slammed into Belle when he opened the door as she was sitting there. She quickly got up and he wrapped his arms around her and they moved to the other side of the street to watch the spaceship fly away.

Craig and Sophie notice that Belle has tears streaming down her face as she leans against the Doctor. He squeezes her waist in comfort.

"Hey, you okay, Belle?" Sophie asks as she watches her new friend hold back more tears.

"I'm okay," Belle lies, but tells the truth when she says, "I'm just glad you're okay now."

Belle lets go of the Doctor and moves to hug Sophie and Craig. Belle had disconnected the ear piece, so she couldn't hear what had happened. She needed that moment to think about all that HAS happened with her and the Doctor, his past and this "new" self.

"Something's different with you two," Belle suddenly says as she notices their stance. She looks at the Doctor. "Something happen?"

"Tell you later," says the Doctor as he grabs Belle's hand. "Let's go for a walk." And they do, but Belle knows it's the Doctor's way of saying 'let's go find the TARDIS.'

•••

The Doctor brings the TARDIS back in time to have Amy write the note she and the Doctor had found a few days ago before they met Craig. Belle and Amy went together. As Amy drops off the note, Belle notices and hears a voice call out their names. Belle tells Amy she'll be there in a moment as she notices the Doctor standing there with an anxious look on his face.

"Belle," he breathes as she hugs him.

"What? What's going on?" Belle asks. "Aren't you supposed to be in the TARDIS?"

"I am," the Doctor says, "well, past me is. It's me from the future."

They haven't let go of the hug. "It's... spoilers," he says as he can tell she is confused. He puts his hands to her face. "Belle, I love—"

He's gone. Her eyes swim with worry as she notices a glowing crack in the road disappear. She takes a deep breath as she sees that the TARDIS appeared in front of her. The Doctor peaks his head out.

"Ready?" The Doctor smiles at her. She smiles back. She grabs his face and kisses him passionately. He doesn't know where to put his hands and flops them around as they snog for a moment. Amy rolls her eyes.

"Oi lovebirds!" She shouts, grabbing their attention. "You spent the past three days together. Give it a break?"

"Never," Belle smirks. The Doctor pulls her inside the TARDIS. Belle is excited for a new adventure, hoping the Doctor doesn't take her out of a dangerous situation yet again.