A Healing Touch (DW)

Chapter 2 - Cheater

Once she'd eaten, Farah stepped out for some fresh air. "Fay!" she heard their lodger call. She glanced back to see him exit the house.

"John", the ginger greeted back.

"You uh headed somewhere?" the Time Lord enquired, somewhat curious. He'd been hoping to have a conversation with Farah about the mark on her hand...what she'd seen etc, though if he had to be honest he wasn't too sure how best to broach the subject without blurting out the existence of aliens. The truth was more than likely going to make the young woman look at him as he were insane.

"Just going for a walk", Farah replied "to the ice rink". She wasn't going to skate. No, she was going to get some answers. She needed to know what happened.

"You skate?" the Doctor asked, falling in step with the empath.

"Ever since I was little", the 23 year old answered and started to walk "I um...want to thank you for earlier. For not saying about..." she tapped her still jumper covered hand.

"It's no problem", the Time Lord said.

"I had no idea what I was going to tell my mother so I really do appreciate it", Farah continued "I..." she trailed off, shaking her head. She couldn't very well tell him what she'd seen. For one thing she barely knew him and for another he would probably think she was crazy! And yet there was something...she couldn't quite put her finger on...but something about him made her want to trust him. It was a similar sort of feeling she got when she first met James all those months ago.

"What?" the Doctor questioned and the ginger just shook her head again.

"I-I can't", the ginger mumbled "it's a little nuts", she admitted.

"Well, now I'm curious", the Time Lord remarked, taking a seat on a nearby bench, patting the empty spot. The 23 year old sighed, taking a seat next to him. He patiently waited while the empath fiddled with the ends of her long hair, deciding what to say...how best to explain it. Farah sighed again, pushing her jumper back and exposing the mark.

"I thought it was a dream", she said quietly "and then I saw this", she held up her hand "I have never been so scared..." she whispered. The Doctor listened as she told him everything. "You must think I'm insane", she murmured as she finished, staring down at her lap not wanting to look at him for fear of what his reaction would be.

"I think insane would be missing that spaceship crashing into Big Ben", the Time Lord somewhat joked causing the ginger to glance up him in surprise.

"I nearly did miss it", she confessed "I was busy working and if it weren't for a customer, I wouldn't have seen it crash. The funny thing is, that's not what stuck in my mind that day".

"Oh?" the Doctor asked, curious.

"It was that missing girl. Rose...something", Farah had turned her gaze to the park across the street which meant she'd missed the expression on his face "I saw her with this man and I couldn't help but think that her family must be happy she was finally home" the 23 year old shook her head "I couldn't imagine just disappearing on my mother for a year", she murmured.

"Wasn't my finest moment", the Time Lord admitted, though it was too quiet for her to catch. He then blinked when a thought occurred "chocolate powder" earning a perplexed look from the empath "you had some on your cheek".

The Doctor was kicking himself for not realising it sooner. He'd seen this young woman before! Granted it was a for moment but come on! Ginger hair like that would've been hard to forget. She should've been hard to forget given how much Rose had teased him for getting distracted by a 'pretty red head'. Her words, not his. Time Lord did have to admit that for quite some time Farah lingered on his mind which earned him quite a bit of ribbing from the blonde. His twin hearts twisted at the thought of his former companion, her loss still too fresh in his mind.