Untold Knowledge (Doctor Who x Genius Fem! Oc) [Book 1]

Chapter 109: The Family of Blood

"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places, but still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."
-- J.R.R. Tolkien

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Echo and John sat side-by-side as they stared down at the waiting fob watch in his hand. "If there was an option for us to switch places, I'd do so in a heartbeat." she spoke quietly, hating the feelings they were both being subjected to.

"He won't love you." he tried to argue firmly, but knew it wasn't even slightly true.

She smiled slightly and shook her head, "Oh, sweet darling. You have no idea what we really have together."

He looked away and back down at the watch. "What do you feel for him, then?"

"Without you, without him, I'd be like a stick of dynamite lit at both ends. With him, I've been able to witness and appreciate the details of the way the sky bends in the moments before it's about to fall." A fond smile adorned her features at the thought of her one and only. "To me, my Doctor is my inspiration. He's my mercy and my patience. He'll forever be a conversation piece between two people, even if they don't know who he is or have never even met him. He's the drug I'll willingly kill for without a second thought. Because sometimes being drug free has less to do with addiction and more to do with sanity. Our lives will forever be intertwined. Without him, the bumps in the road turn into mountains and the down hills turn into the deepest of trenches. Trying to fight the emotions I feel for him would be like trying to hold back Lituya Bay tsunami in 1958 with a pillow. It just can't be done." (It was in Alaska and stood at 1,720 feet or 524.258 meters at it's tallest point.)

The moment she held her hand in his, watch between their joined hands, they both gasped audibly as their minds were filled with images of a possible future. Both Echo and John shared a binding kiss under a white alter. They saw him holding an infant, both lovers smiling with complete adoration. They saw each other walking down a path in an autumn colored forest with their only child running around them joyfully. When they saw John on his death bed, age wilting his features and grey in his hair, Echo sat beside him while looking as young and fresh as the day they met.

The future Echo was shaking as tears flooded down her cheeks. "I can't live without you. You can't leave me. Not you, too. You promised... Please... Don't leave me." she sobbed and begged uncontrollably and over all desperately.

"It's okay, my beloved Echo. Death is as natural  as breathing. You of all people know this... It's my time." he whispered softly. "I love you with all that I am. I love you..." then breathed his last. His wife laid across his chest as her torturous sorrow assaulted her with no end and no sign of ease.

"Come back to me.... You promised...."

Quickly pulling their hands back from each other, John saw the tearful look of understanding she held. "You may have the human life you deserve. But with what and who I am...? I could never bear to watch you die. Not like everyone else I had. Not you. Never you."

"What do you mean?" he asked, still confused by what they'd just seen.

Echo gave him a small, sorrowful smile. "Oh, my beloved John. I don't age. I haven't for at least a millennium or so. If you choose to stay human, you'd be forcing me to leave you behind. Maybe not immediately, maybe not for decades. But it would still happen. And I don't think I'll be able to survive that. I wouldn't want to." she explained honestly. Just at the mere thought of having to say goodbye again made her tears trickle down her face without care. "Not again..." Seeing her in such a new light, he found himself desperate to comfort her. To stop what was causing her turmoil. John was terrified to "die", but he more so couldn't allow her pain to continue. Without saying a word, he pulled her into a passionate kiss of farewell. Then, with a deep breath, he opened the watch.