Travellers' Hearts {The Wattys 2017}

Chapter 15

Rose knocked on the door. 'Kate, are you up yet?', she asked quietly. Rose didn't want to wake her up, but she needed to get to the phone - her mom would have surely left a message! Just as she prepared to knock again, the door swung open and revealed her room. 'Can I come in?', Rose asked. 'Sure.' Kate closed the door behind her and sat down on the edge of the bed where her black bag was lying. 'I'll just phone my mom', Rose murmured, but stopped abruptly as she noticed that Kate was packing. 'Are you going somewhere?', she asked in surprise. 'Yeah, I just... need to go', Kate answered quickly as she rolled a pair of jeans and a pullover together and stuffed them into her small bag together with her purse. 'Where? Why-' 'See you!', Kate said and attempted to leave through the door, but Rose got in her way. 'You can't go!', she exclaimed, incredible. 'Who's going where?' The Doctor leaned over the wooden banister and looked up at them. Kate sighed. For naive reasons, she had thought she would be able to depart quickly and quietly, but that would obviously not be the case now. 'Nowhere', she mumbled, trying to sound convincing but horribly failing. Kate tried to get to the door as quickly as possible, but just as she wanted to close it again, the Doctor and Rose stumbled out of the house after her.

'Where are you going, Kate?', the Doctor repeated, his voice low and serious. Kate took a deep breath: 'Away.' 'But where?', her friends blurted out simultaneously. 'Just - away. Keep travelling. I've stayed for too long, it's time for me to move on', she answered, not looking them in the eye. 'But - you'll come back! You'll come back, won't you?', Rose hastened to say. 'You'll go for a stroll and then come back to us, right?' Kate laughed. 'No, I think it might be a bit bigger than that', she said, winking. The Doctor, who had been merely standing next to them all the time, now brought himself in. 'Why are you leaving?', he wanted to know. Kate gave him a short look, but it was long enough to notice something both curious and knowing in those warm, brown eyes of his that almost tempted her to back off, but fortunately she caught herself again, laughing to hide her confusion. She closed her eyes for a moment, preparing to jump in at the deep end, to risk it all. It took her some time to pluck up the courage to say what she thought needed to be said, and to figure out how to do it.

'During those five thousand years I've been travelling to different places and universes, I've met a lot of people, gotten to know a lot of cultures. I've realised that there's one thing that binds all of them together.' She paused, looking at the Doctor to see wether he had realised yet, though she didn't know herself what she was hoping for. When he just kept looking confused, Kate continued talking, her heart heavy: 'So many times, I've watched young people fall in love with someone, running after them for years, thinking about one person for so long but never say a word. And... well, I always thought it was insane, and I kept telling them 'get out!'' There she paused, looking at the Doctor and trying to figure out whether he knew where this was going, but he just kept looking at her, eyebrows slightly raised, an expression she didn't understand on his face. Finally, she gave up. 'But I don't want to be that person that goes to church to pray then goes home to sin. Well... I'm not now, I guess', Kate added with a small, slightly sad smile. When neither Rose nor the Doctor said a word, she couldn't bear it anymore. 'I'm sorry!', she murmured, pulling a strand of hair out of her neat ponytail. 'I wasn't sure if I should tell you - I'm truly sorry! But maybe it's better that you hate me, now that I've got to go anyways, there will be one more reason for not coming back. Good thing you want me to go now!', Kate blurted out nervously. To her greatest surprise, Rose turned around and gave her a warm smile. 'It's okay, Kate. I'm not angry, it's alright! You can stay, really!' Funny enough, Kate broke into nervous laughter at that. 'Oh, come on!', she exclaimed, 'how much more third-wheeling could the universe possibly bear without exploding or something?' 'That's not-', Rose began, but Kate hushed her silent. 'But you'll visit us, won't you?' Slowly and sadly, Kate shook her head. 'I don't think so', she admitted. 'But we'll miss you!' At that, Kate suddenly lit up a bit again and pulled out her necklace from under her pullover. Carefully, she took the pendant down and placed it in the Doctor's hand. 'Now watch!', she exclaimed, almost sounding enthusiastic about it as she went around him and the pendant turned itself in his hand, the longest ray of the sun always pointing at her. 'Fantastic!', Rose shouted. 'So we'll use this to find you whenever we need you!' 'But how?', the Doctor interrupted her. 'No', Kate finally said. 'It won't tell you where I am. That's not the point. I could be anywhere in that direction, on any planet, in any universe. But there's one thing it will do - it will help you to remember me! Keep it safe for me, please.' The Doctor swallowed hard and nodded before slipping the pendant into his pocket. 'So, you two'll just keep travelling?', Kate asked to fill the uncomfortable silence that had fallen. The Doctor nodded. 'Yeah, I guess we will', he said a bit nervously. 'Well, better take a break soon, I think Rose might need it!', Kate advised them and winked at him. 'What do you mean?', the Doctor asked in surprise. 'Wait - you mean... NO! But you've got to know! She's pregnant with your child!' 'What?' To be honest, Kate didn't think she had ever seen the Doctor more shocked than right now. Obviously, she had broken the big news Rose had told her just today. 'Okay, um... I'll better be off now, see ya!', she just managed to stutter out before teleporting away, leaving them behind, shocked.

Rose laid her hand on the Doctor's shoulder. 'Are you alright?', she asked quietly. 'Yeah. Yeah, I am.' 'I'm sorry, I know I should've told you, but I just couldn't find the right moment to say it, and-' 'Sh!', the Doctor interrupted her and pulled her closer to him. 'Rose, I thought you knew how important you are to me, but I guess I was wrong: I think it does need saying. I never told you, did I? Because I was afraid - I had loved before and been hurt so badly. But now I can say it: Rose Tyler - I will always love you.' And having heard the Doctor finally say those words, Rose leaned over for a wonderful and sweet kiss. None of them noticed Kate, who was only now completely departing, a relieved smile on her lips because she knew that those two people who had suffered so much could finally be together now. Because every once in a while, every once in so many years, there actually is a happy ending to a story - that she had learned, and she was happy that the story of those two wonderful people could have one.