A Healing Touch (DW)

Prologue

Farah walked into the school swimming pool, wearing the same black dress she wore to her grandmother's funeral. She looked down at the photo of her deceased loved one in her hands. Deep down she knew she was going to regret doing this but she couldn't keep going! The pain...the grief...it was too much and with her empathic powers she felt it a thousand fold. The sheer weight of the emotions from not just herself but from her mother as well was quite literally crushing her. She just wanted it to stop!

"See you soon nana", she whispered and slid into the deep end. She took a breath and ducked beneath the surface. She closed her eyes and didn't fight as she slowly sank to the bottom, weighed down by her clothing.

Minutes passed and soon she was feeling her lungs start to ache from the lack of air. Yet she refused to swim to the surface. Kinda pointless if you want to drown. The ginger's body spasmed once, twice before it stilled.

Suddenly her new friend James Sven dove into the pool, grabbed hold of the young woman and surfaced with her. He laid her on the tiles and proceeded to give her mouth to mouth. "Come on, breathe", he urged as he did chest compressions "please, breathe". He continued to give her the lifesaving procedure until she opened her green eyes and coughed up the pool water.

"James", she whispered, looking up at the man ashamed at what she'd done. Why if her actions had been successful, her poor mother would've been burying another family member! "I'm sorry", she broke down in tears "I'm sorry!"

"I know", the dirty blond said, softly, hugging her carefully as if she was made of glass "I know". He gathered her up in his arms and walked out of the swimming pool.

~the Galen home~

"Feel better?" James asked as Farah entered the room, now clad in pj's. It was lucky that the ginger's mother wasn't home as it meant they didn't have to answer questions. The blond knew that the young empath wasn't in the right mindset to face Kate Galen.

"Yeah", the newly turned 23 year old mumbled, sinking down on the edge of her bed "thanks for saving me", she mumbled "if you hadn't..." she trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought "what is wrong with me?" she whispered.

"Hey, nothing is wrong with you", James assured her, sitting next to her on the bed.

"But I tried to kill myself!" the ginger cried, tears rolling down her face "that's...its..." the words gave way to a fresh round of tears.

The blond put an arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. There they sat in silence which was occasionally broken by the empath's sobs. Eventually the tears slowed and the ginger felt herself calm in her friend's presence. It was almost like he was wrapping her in this little emotional bubble of calm and serenity. And this wasn't the first time it had happened either.

More than once she had been overwhelmed by other people's emotions but the moment James was nearby, the bombardment lessened. It was almost as if the man himself had the ability to be an emotional shield. Certainly was a godsend in difficult times such as these! "Thank you", she murmured.

"You're welcome", the young man said softly "Listen Fay I'm really sorry to have to do this..."

Farah looked at him quizzically, wiping her face "sorry?" she sniffled "for what?"

"About this", the blond replied and placed his fingers on her temples, closing his eyes. Immediately she passed out. James put her in bed properly, pulling the covers up around her. He put his finger on her temple and slowly rubbed a circle into her skin. "You didn't try to kill yourself by drowning in the pool", he said quietly "You started to do it but changed your mind. You didn't want to leave your mother behind".

He hadn't wanted to mess with her mind like that but given the state she was in, he couldn't bear to see her suffer. This was the fastest way to get his favourite empath back toward a path of coping with her recent loss.

James lifted his finger from her temple and lightly caressed the slumbering ginger's cheek. "Don't dwell on dark thoughts", he murmured "dream of our first meeting...how you taught me to skate. How you love to skate".

Reluctantly he got up from the bed and left the room. As he pulled the door closed, the man took out a leather wallet from his pocket. "Time to get the Doctor here", he murmured and concentrated on sending the Time Lord a message. Once he'd done that, he walked away, hands in his pockets. Not much more he could do now except wait. Something he wasn't very good at.