Before You Go (Sequel to The Visitor)

xv. Real or Not Real?

"Excellent! Ellie, you're dismissed," One of the producers commented from behind the camera; they had been watching the footage back to see if they needed anything else from Annie.

It was cold on the beach. Annie was shivering, her face blotchy and red from crying in the last few takes. Margaret, who had watched the sequence play out from behind the camera, hurried forward with another tissue, but Annie was tired of it.

"Stop trying to be my mum," She said coldly, and Margaret stared back, shocked. Annie didn't know where the comment had come from, but she immediately froze, "Oh my, I'm so sorry, Aunt Marge, I would never-"

Annie's smattering of apologies ended in tears once more, and it seemed as though everyone was looking at her as Margaret led her away from the set. It had been a long day, and the series was only just beginning.

It was nearing sunset when Margaret allowed Annie to stop her studying; but only because the girl had passed the test.

"Can I sit?" Looking up, Annie realized it was Matt Smith who stood before her on the hill. He wasn't in costume. Embarrassed, she nodded, moving her books aside.

"Advanced Quantum Mechanics- what are you doing with those?" Matt wondered, picking one up and weighing it in his hand. He had a baffled sort of expression on his face, as if even the second page was making him confused.

"I may have stolen the Doctor's book on the plane with Amy and Rory to Utah," admitted Annie, and she could tell that Matt didn't believe her.

"I was bored, and Rory had it in his bag," she said suddenly as the man motioned for her to continue. Matt always listened to Annie's 'stories' that he had thought she made up for things not actually shown on Doctor Who.

"Oh? And what makes you think that you took a plane to Utah, Miss Williams?" Matt continued what he thought was banter.

Annie simply stared at him as if he were an idiot. "Amy and Rory received their invitations in the mail, and the nine-hundred-and-nine-year-old-Doctor got his separately," She explained, "But the eleven-hundred-and-three-year-old-Doctor met them on the roadway. He was lent up against a car, and says 'Howdy', to which Rory, Amy, and I get off the bus and we engage in a reunion of sorts. Everyone shows up separately, and the Doctor never takes the TARDIS into battle anyway- everyone knows that. If he were going to die, then he would do it right, because fixed points are-"

She suddenly stopped talking. Matt had been listening, all the whilst getting more and more confused (not because of her explanation, but because of how intelligent she seemed while explaining points of an episode which Matt hadn't even understood himself).

"Why am I even telling you this?" Annie said instead, a smile on her face. It felt good to rant like Hermione Granger about something that she really understood for once.

"Oh, I appreciate it," Matt said, a look of utter perplexity gracing his features, "I'm just a little...surprised. You seem to know a lot more than I thought you would."

"Well, I have been watching the show since I was four," shrugged Annie.

Matt grinned, "No kidding! That would mean- you're nine, right? Blimey. You've been watching since 2005, which would mean Christopher Eccleston would have been your first... Wow. Who got you into it?"

Annie suddenly looked extremely bewildered. "Um..." She said intelligently, "I... don't know. Why don't I- that's funny. I don't even remember."