Her Second Chance (a Doctor Who fanfiction)

Chapter 9

“My Lord, we have been detected,” the Commander said. A screen is drawn up and a picture of a telephone box of Earth origin is pulled from below.

“Can you show the inside?” I ask. Another picture is pulled up, showing a large room. I feel a grin rise to my face.

“It’s a TARDIS. The Doctor survived,” I say, ideas spinning around my head.

“What will we do, my Lord President?” he asks quietly. I turn to him, my grin growing wider.

“Trap him. Lure him in. Bring him to us.”

*****

The Doctor cancelled the scan on Gallifrey. He says before we can find the Time Lords we have to find my TARDIS, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Locating my TARDIS in Leadworth, the Doctor set the coordinates to a spot about a kilometre away. I tried arguing with him to land closer, but he says it’s too dangerous as the tracking is rubbish.

“Shit,” the Doctor swears when the TARDIS jolts to the side harshly, throwing my halfway across the room. “Sorry!” he yells, attempting to regain control. I crawl over to the console and hit the stabilizers. Panting harshly, I pull myself up, attempting to calm my racing hearts. Coming back to my senses, I hear the Doctor laughing at the top of his lungs.

“You are mental!” I say, elbowing him in the ribs.

The electricity races through my arm, into the rest of my body.

They say that the first time you touch your soul mate, you are overcome with an electric shock. How heavy it is depends on how well you know the person. The more you know them, the stronger the shock.

And I got quite the shock.

Staring into his amazing eyes, I find it hard to look away, nor do I want to. The only thing that makes me look away is a ding, signalling that the TARDIS had landed. Blinking, I turn around, checking the scanner. I begin to feel majorly self conscious, knowing the Doctor is still staring at me. Wrapping my hands around the bar underneath the scanner, I quickly read over the circles displaying themselves. The lines begin to blur together, making it hard to read and impossible to understand. I shake my head and attempt to make sense of the words, wishing for the warmth of my TARDIS.

I know that’s not it, but I refuse to admit the truth.

A picture slowly fades onto the screen, revealing a faded brown caravan. I grin, pushing past the Doctor - not acknowledging the shock waves rippling through my arm - and run to open the door, revealing my baby. Skipping over to the front, I fish for the key in my pocket, finding it in a matter of seconds. Unlocking the door, I step into my home, running my hands over the controls. Hearing the door creak open, I spin round, the Doctor appearing with wide eyes.

“What do you think?” I ask, a grin spreading across my face.

“It’s… beautiful,” he whispers, slowly descending the stairway to the centre console where I’m standing. Slowly circling the room, he fiddles with a few of the controls, making the TARDIS groan in response. “I’ll be right back,” he says. I watch as he runs out of the room, the sound of his TARDIS dematerialisation breaking my hearts.

I lean up against the wall, a few tears escaping my eyes at the thought of him leaving me. His last words ring in my ears, and for the next few hours, his broken promise is the only thing on my mind.

*****

Three weeks later: no sign of the Doctor. I have begun to give up hope that he will return. I haven’t done much since his disappearance, except for eating, sleeping and crying. His face, the times we spent together keep playing in the back of my mind, along with his haste to get out of the room. Feeling sleepy, I get back into bed, sweeping my hair to the side. Unconsciousness overcomes me quickly.

*****

{Three weeks earlier}

I run out of the room, a plan unfolding in my mind. I sprint back into my TARDIS, grinning widely. I’ve heard that what I’m trying to do takes time and skill, and is hard to get right, but I’m attempting it anyway.

I get stuck with coordinates. How do you set coordinates for a TARDIS? I’m thrown to the side when the TARDIS begins to shake. Pulling myself up, I check the scanner to see that I’m being taken into a room.

“Where am I going?” I ask the TARDIS, another set of circles appearing on the scanner, spelling out the word ‘TARDIS.’ I realise the TARDIS had gotten into my mind, figuring out where I want to go and taking me there.

Stepping out of the room once the noise has stopped, I feel a cool breeze blow against my face. Looking around, I find myself in an open meadow full of beautiful red grass and burnt orange skies, blue streams of crystal clear waters and waterfalls of diamonds.

The perfect replica of a Gallifreyan field.

Glancing behind me, I see behind the TARDIS a door. Walking towards it, I twist the handle, revealing a corridor. I step through the door, the scenery behind me immediately changing into a blue room.

“Chameleon arc,” I mutter under my breath, when I realise what the room is. I shake my head, beginning to walk to my left. With no idea of where I want to be in my head, I find myself walking for half an hour. Sighing, I glance to the ceiling and whisper, “take me to Cassathia.” The TARDIS groans in response and I begin to walk again, jogging up to a door. Knocking on an oak door, I hear no response, so I go ahead and open the door. My eyes fall on Cassathia’s sleeping frame, curled in a ball, her cover falling off of her body. I slowly step onto the soft carpet, lifting the blanket back over her body and leaving a kiss on her forehead.

Closing her door quietly, my mind goes blank as to what to do, so I begin to explore. Wandering around, the first thing I find is a brilliant library, making mine seem like a child’s book stand in comparison. I see everything from books about cooking Apalapucian recipes to the similarities of Raxacoricofallapatorius and Clom. Leaving the library, the next room I walk into sort of resembles one of the rooms in my TARDIS, where I put things that don’t have a place. I find ancient computers, hats, pens, and photo albums. I find my legs taking me to the box of albums and my hands lifting out the top folder, which is considerably heavy. Flipping to the first page, I see a photo of a short, blonde girl with bright blue eyes and tan skin. Next to her, someone has been cropped out of the picture, but I can’t see who they are, all I can see is an arm. turning the page, I see the same girl with a boy’s arm wrapped around her shoulder. Underneath is a caption which I’m able to read:

Lady Cassathia and brother, Lord Master.

Brother.

Oh shit.

[picture is Cassathia in the photo album]