Travellers' Hearts {The Wattys 2017}

Chapter 4

The next morning, Kate woke up before the Doctor. To her amusement, he had fallen asleep with his head rested on a piece of fabric from his coat and had snuggled himself into it. Kate quickly decided she was as hungry as the most massive black hole in this universe and went for a stroll through the Tardis, hoping she'd find a fridge or a kitchen somewhere.

She was lucky. There appeared to be a dining room only a few doors away, with two cupboards and a coffee machine on one of the kitchen counters. Kate started humming while making some breakfast when, behind her, the Doctor's voice interrupted her cooking. 'Yumm... breakfast!', he said with a laughter. 'Sit down!', Kate told him in a teasing voice. 'I'm making coffee and toast so delicious I'm afraid you'll faint!', she said, balancing a dinner tray with a two mugs of coffee and toast on it. 'The toast really is amazing', the Doctor thought, pulling a face at Kate, which made her laugh. 'So, where do you plan to go next?', she asked him with a mouth full of toast. 'I don't really know', he said, shrugging. 'Maybe to the future?' The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Kate, whose face lit up at an instant. 'I've always, always wanted to see the future!', she exclaimed excitedly. 'Please, please, Doctor, can we go there?' There was that bit of childish joy that made the Doctor nod in agreement without thinking twice. He was, as well, excited to show Kate the future. 'What would you like to see?', he asked. 'Can we stay on Earth?', Kate begged him coyly. 'I like this planet!' 'Yes, so do I', the Doctor assured her. 'I'll go change my clothes, meet you downstairs!', Kate shouted, whirling out of the dining room. The Doctor laughed a small laugh and poured himself some sugar into his coffee.

Five minutes later, Kate and the Doctor found themselves in the control room of the Tardis. 'How far do you want to go?', the Doctor asked her. 'Hm... let's say, eight hundred years in the future?' 'Okay; Allons-y!', the Doctor exclaimed, turning and pressing some buttons as the Tardis whirled around in time and space and transported them to Dublin, year 2810.

'Let's go have a look, shall we?', Kate panted, wiping away the dust from her jeans. The Doctor nodded and took her hand. Together, they stepped out of the door and found themselves on a public city area, where hundreds of tourists were doing their shopping. 'I don't think anyone will notice the Tardis if you just leave it here, will they?', Kate asked him. The Doctor hesitated. 'I guess you're right', he said, letting go of her hand and combing through his hair with his fingers. Kate looked around. 'When are we, what date is it?', she wondered. The Doctor shrugged and went over to a display on the other side of the street. There were three clocks on it, each one's hands pointing into different directions. 'That's no use', he heard Kate complain. 'What's that suppose to mean?' The Doctor took a step back, examining the clocks. Three clocks, three times. Could be showing different time zones... or... 'It's the clock change.' He turned to Kate, burying his hands in his pockets. 'You know about the normal time change, twice a year. But the spin of the Earth changed. Now, after 122 days, the clock needs to be set back an hour, and after 244 days, it needs to be set back again. That's why they simply have three clocks, here in the centre of New Dublin. It's amazing!' 'Yeah, not bad', Kate laughed and linked arms with the Doctor. 'Come on, I want to see something!', she giggled, dragging him onwards.

The two travellers walked down the busy street, talking and following the crowd, which was mainly heading towards a huge building on the other side of the street. 'What's that over there?', Kate asked the Doctor, pointing at the grey building. 'I don't know', he said, furrowing his brow. The building reminded him of a prison, but there was a massive propeller attached to it. The Doctor craned his neck. 'I can see an entrance', he explained to Kate. 'Seems like some sort of... office building to me. There are people walking inside and out.' Kate nodded. 'So, we'll check this out?' 'You bet!', the Doctor exclaimed, and she joined in his laughter.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise, like a huge aeroplane engine would make, and a wind blew across the street, as if the propeller was trying to suck the air in. Kate tried to straighten her hair with one hand and shield her face from the dust that was whirling through the air. 'Doctor!', she shouted over the noise. She spotted him a few metres to her left. 'Hold on to something, Kate! Anything, just hold on!' It was a panicked cry that escaped his throat. 'Doctor!' Kate tried to straighten her skirt as she moved towards the Doctor. 'Doctor, it's alright', she tried to comfort him. 'It's getting weaker, you see?' He sunk down and nodded slowly. 'Are you alright?', she asked him with a worried look on her face. The Doctor didn't respond, but just took Kate by her hand. For a few minutes, the two of them sat there, on the street, not saying anything. The Doctor took a deep breath, looking Kate in the eye. 'This is how I lost Rose', he said, his voice dropping. When she didn't say anything in response, he plucked up courage. 'The Dalek and the Cybermen got sucked into the void', he explained. Kate nodded. She remembered how a void had pulled the Dalek in that day. 'We had landed in a parallel universe shortly before, and were therefore full of the void.' Kate nodded, signaling him she knew what he was talking about. The Doctor looked at her, and though his face was straight, it was his eyes that gave his sadness away. 'I told Rose to hold on, but... she slipped away. A second before the void closed. She just fell through that hole and landed in a parallel universe.' He paused and started to sob a little. 'Oh, I wish... Nevermind.' 'You wish what?', Kate asked, softly stroking the back of his hand with hers. He shook his head, dropping his gaze. 'I wish I could go back and tell her I love her. I never did.' 'Then why don't you go?', Kate asked, her voice soft. The Doctor lifted his head, raising an eyebrow at her while tears were forming on his lower lashes. 'How?' Kate shook her head, not quite understanding what he meant. 'Just take the Tardis', she suggested. 'Directly back to the parallel universe where you left her.' 'How?', the Doctor snapped back at her. 'It's impossible! The Tardis only landed there by accident, and now that it is completely impossible-' 'Wait a minute!', Kate interrupted him. 'How do you mean, it's impossible?', she asked, sounding shocked. 'You mean one can't travel between parallel universes anymore??' Her voice was incredible, as if the Doctor had just told her the Earth had two suns. 'Yeah', the Doctor assured her. 'Since when?' 'Since 'bout two weeks ago, when the Dalek-' 'You want to tell me that you can't travel to another universe?', Kate exclaimed, sounding shocked. 'Yes, it's impossible since-' Kate shook her head, not quite believing what she heard. 'No, no, no! But that can't be! You remember when you called after me, when we met again? I had just gotten back from a trip on the parallel moon!' The Doctor shook his head in disbelief. 'No way!' Kate got up irritatedly and *pouff* - she was gone! Half a second later, she reappeared ten metres away from the spot where she had been standing before. 'You see? Don't tell me you can't do that!?' 'I can't!', the Doctor said, shaking his head. 'Come on, let's get back to the Tardis!', he suddenly blurred out and started running.

Kate reached the Tardis door about ten seconds after the Doctor, despite the fact that she had been sprinting at her fastest speed. When she opened the door, she saw the Doctor leaning onto the controller, clicking a pen. 'No, no, no!', he cried out desperately. 'Not that. Oh, I don't know what to write!' 'Just come with us', Kate suggested in a surprised manner. 'How? Me, I can't transport myself to a different universe. I don't know how you do it, but I know that for me, it is impossible!' Kate smiled shyly. 'Well... I guess I could take you with me?', she suggested. 'Could you?' Kate nodded. 'Oh my god!', the Doctor shouted, running over to hug her. He suddenly had a thought. What if Kate... 'Kate, can I ask you something?' ''Course, go on!' 'When you travel... do you have some sort of intergalactic inner dictionary or what?' To his mild surprise, she nodded. 'Yes, something like that I suppose', Kate said with a laugh. 'Funny - not a lot of Gallifreyan devices do!' Gallifreyan. Kate nodded. A bitter, sad twinge formed in her stomach as she realised that the Doctor had escaped the last Great Time War, the only Time Lord. The only survivor from a war. Like her. 'That's so great!! Allons-y!' Kate forced a giggle and nodded at him, who, it seemed so, hadn't noticed that he had just told her something he hadn't intended to. She took him by his hand, but he could feel her hesitating. 'What is it?', he asked her. 'Don't you want to take the Tardis with you?' 'Can you do so big things?', he asked. 'I don't know... never tried anything bigger than a house. But if we go outside... I guess it could work. It's smaller on the outside, and I reckon that's what counts.' The Doctor raised an eyebrow and led her out of the Tardis. 'The outside is what counts', he murmured, making Kate laugh. 'Okay, take a deep breath', Kate told him. She took his hand and touched the Tardis with her other, and just a split of a second later, they could feel the sound of the universe in their ears as they fell through time and space and dimensions and were transported to another universe. Rose's universe.