The Doctor breathed a heavy breath out, his thoughts centered on his Angel as they so often were lately. It was more than obvious now, what they'd seen before he'd joined them. There was nothing he could think of that would cause so much damage to the unflappable Angel, other than the death of his mate.
And it was so incredibly evident, in the other man's actions, in his thoughts, and most obviously, in his eyes, that he was so close to falling apart. His very soul was only being held together by the thinnest thread.
The worst part, he thought as he closed his eyes in defeat for a moment, was that it was his fault. He'd been so short sighted. Or maybe it was arrogance. Whatever it was, it was his fault that the other man was now a light breeze away from shattering into tiny pieces. If he'd never given into the growing feelings the other had inspired in him, Haylen wouldn't have bonded with him.
He'd thought he was saving the Angel from self-destructing when his family died so much sooner than he would, but all he'd done was tie a leash around the other's heart. It was actively painful to see the desperate way that such a powerful being was acting at just the thought of anything happening to him.
He was a selfish, short-sighted man, and he'd practically signed the Angel's death warrant.
He couldn't even pretend that it wouldn't be his fault.
He had never been accused of being an idiot, and he'd put the numbered letters together with everything else he'd seen earlier. No, the older him had known what he was doing, had known what would happen to the vulnerable, brand new Angel, and he'd done it anyway.
He wasn't sure he could forgive himself for such a pointlessly cruel act, not when he was seeing the fallout. When he was watching the way Haylen growled and snarled, pacing like a caged animal at times, and staring down perceived threats with all the stillness of a predator ready to pounce at others.
Not when the barrier that held their thoughts back from one another felt like disintegrating glass, flimsy as a butterfly's wing, and the unholy screeching on the other side tried to claw it's way through at any slight movement from anyone.
What possible reason could he have, he wondered not for the first time, for destroying Haylen? Because that was what was happening. His Angel was still falling to pieces. He was scrambling to find a way to stop it, but the blow that had shattered him had already been dealt.
And he had been the one to do it. Not only that, but he'd seen what it did to the other man, and still chosen to do it. Or he would. In the future.
What could possibly be worth this?
'Where are we?' Amy asked, having been the first to follow him out of the Tardis when they landed.
It stung. He was used to his Angel being right there beside him, a curious look on his face as he looked about at the new place. But he was still in the Tardis, River by his side as she tried to hold him together.
'About five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Centre,' he replied easily, the disconnect between his deeper thoughts and the immediate useful as ever. 'It's 1969, the year of the moon. Interesting, don't you think?'
Was it? Maybe if things were different, he might have thought so. More than anything, he was just trying to keep his mind off how much it hurt to feel the shards of his mate's broken mind scraping against his.
'But why would a little girl be here?'
'I don't know,' he admitted with a wan smile. 'Lost me a bit. The President asked the girl where she was, and she did what any lost little girl would do.' He paused, lifting the blind to show Amy the street sign that he'd known would be out there. 'She looked out the window.'
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A Match Made in Heaven | Doctor X OMC | Doctor Who
Fanfiction'I don't know yet. I'm still cooking. Does it scare you?' he responded lightly. A giggle broke into their conversation, and Amelia turned at the same time as the man. They were met with the sight of the golden light floating around Haylen almost pla...
