Our Story

Chapter 29: Complete

They'd dropped off their friends and companions, and none too soon. It wasn't that they didn't care deeply for those friends of theirs. They were all precious to them. But their marriage bond had gone far too long without completion, and the mental and physical strain was causing the Doctor's patience to wear thin.

They'd just dropped Lucille off, back at her home in the mountains of New York, and the Archivist had just spent what, to the Doctor, felt all together too many minutes saying goodbye to the woman. When finally she'd turned back towards the TARDIS, he surged towards the ship, practically dragged her back inside and as soon as the doors were closed, backed her towards one of the coral struts. "How are you handling this so well?" he growled.

She smiled at him, calm and steady, irritating him further. "Perhaps you've forgotten Doctor, but for me, it's been 16 months, almost 13,000 hours, since we made our vow. It took me about an hour to get over the absolute panic that I'd lost you forever. Then at least one more to stop weeping. Then a few more to allow my resolve to grow and realize I had to survive and find a way back to you, even if it meant hiding away and surviving in the city till I could find you back in the time I'd just left you." Her voice dropped to a whisper as she continued. "And there, as I sat, alone in the alley—my mind, it started to itch. Then my whole body. It was like I was itching, tingling, burning, from the inside out. They don't write about that in Gallifreyan textbooks, do they, Doctor? Haven't read about that feeling in all the literature about Time Lord wedding rituals, hmm? Do you know what I was missing, Doctor? Do you?"

He eased back, suddenly feeling guilty. He knew exactly how she had felt. The same feeling was currently driving him mad. "M-me?"

"Yes, precisely."

"I'm sorry," he said, hanging his head low in shame.

She lifted his chin with one finger, then cupped his cheek in her hand, speaking gently into his mind. I don't want you to be sorry. I just want you to understand. She then spoke aloud again, but still in a hushed quiet tone, "I'm not immune to it. I'm about to crawl out of my skin, Doctor. I lived with that underlying feeling of—lacking, of missing something, of being incomplete—for over a year. Having you back by my side, your hand in mine, and now—this." She held up their hands, showing their ribbon-wrapped wrists. "I'm not handling it well, I've just learned how to fake it." She held out her other hand so he could see how much it trembled. He took it in his free hand and held it up to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles. She smiled for a moment, then as he lowered their hands, her face grew serious again and he saw emotion swirling in her eyes. She was letting the control she'd built up over the past 16 months slip.

"Alone we are weak." She stated, repeating words similar to those of their wedding vows.

"Together, we are strong." He spoke the other half of the vow.

She moved away from the outer doorway and across the control room, leading him to the inner doorway towards the hallway and depths of the TARDIS. Not too far away would be the bedroom the TARDISes had worked together to prepare for their newly bonded Time Lord pair. He followed closely.

**—**—**

When the Doctor slowly blinked his eyes open several hours later, he looked up at the ceiling above him and smiled. His mind was calm, and he no longer felt like he might vibrate out of his own skin. He'd been so on edge he almost took it out on his own wife, the one person who could calm him. He turned his head to the side and first saw his own wrist, still attached by the ribbon to hers. They'd twisted the ribbons more loose so that their wrists could lay flat against the pillows between them as they both lay flat on their backs in the bed. It was the most comfortable position they could find while still connected by the ribbon, neither quite yet willing to cut them as they drifted off to sleep. He pushed his own wrist against the pillow, moving it out of the way to give him a better view of her. She looked so peaceful—not a surprise since the final puzzle piece of their bond had been put into place. As he watched her sleep, he considered the past several days, and even went as far back as their childhood, stretching himself to think about memories he'd hidden away for so long. He'd done his best to forget about Gallifrey and now he regretted it. He'd allowed himself to forget one of his most precious friends.