Worlds Apart

Chapter 5

Emma's POV

"What the bloody hell have you got on your head?" asked Clara when I came in the "living room", as the guests called it, of the hotel.

"I've been to meet the new guests, and they gave me this awesome sombrero," I said, sitting next to Crystal. They were playing War, and been playing the same game since I had left, about ten minutes ago. Clara was winning, but Crystal didn't mind. "Has the Doctor came back?" she asked.

"He'd be here if he has," I told her. She rolled her eyes and threw down her last card. Clara had a king and Crystal had a queen. Clara had won. Crystal didn't care, for the Doctor had entered, dripping wet. "It's like buckets of water are being dumped on me, and Mortivia won't change her mind. She's just insisting that I needed a cup of tea." He rolled his eyes and sat in the other chair next to Crystal.

"Awww, is my poor Doctor cold?" I said like I was talking to a baby. I was being sarcastic about it of course, but the Doctor ignored me completely and said, "It's gonna take a lot for her to change her mind."

I nodded. "But don't worry, the Mind Changer isn't busy often, and when he is, it only takes, at the most, lets say, a minute?" I shrugged. "Most people flinch away from the sight of him."

"I'm staring right at it, and I'm not flinching," Crystal said. I raised my fist and Crystal leaned away from it instinctively.

"I don't get how she isn't afraid of Emma," said the Doctor. "Emma's the devil." Then he looked at me. "No offense."

"None taken," I said, plunking the sombrero on Crystal's head, who ran off singing, "Let's have a fiesta!"

"She's so adorable," I said, staring after her.

"But she attracts a lot of attention," the Doctor pointed out.

"Only the Dalek," I said. True, it was watching her, but it made no move. For some strange reason, Crystal and the Dalek avoided each other, which was fine by me.

Doctor's POV

I put my chin on the table. "Are you okay?" Clara asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I mumbled.

"It was another article, wasn't it?" she said this matter-of-factly. I nodded.

"What was this about?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just how we're in looove and all that garbage," I muttered. I was sick of the news and wanted to get out of here. I knew that the TARDIS took me here for a reason, but not for me to be brutally humiliated. I sighed and put my head down completely on the table. I spread my arms out wide. "I'm sick of the media," I complained into the wood.

"Doctor, you say this every day. Please, give it a rest. They'll forget about you," Clara said soothingly. Just then, my phone went off. I pulled it out, looked at the number, and hit end call. "Was that Mortivia?" Emma asked. I had completely forgotten about her.

"Yep. I've never received so many calls from one person," I said.

"Cheer up. Mind Changer costs only five pence," Emma said.

"I'm not spending money for Mortivia to be punched in the face," I grumbled.

"He likes you. He'll work for you for free," Emma sang. She moved her thumb up and down like it was a mouth (which was drawn on, along with eyes, eyebrows, and a mustache) and made it say, "I love you Doctor. I'll help you ooooout."

I grabbed her fist. "Just shut up. I'm sick of the articles."

She nodded and got up. "I'm gonna go find Crystal."

"You do that."

"Someone's depressed," Emma huffed.

"If I hear one more story about Emma and I, I'm gonna hire Mind Changer," I mumbled into the table.

"Doctor, don't let some stories make you do stuff you normally wouldn't do," said Clara.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I caught a whiff of something and I saw a flash of white as a piece of cloth was tied over my mouth. Before I blacked out, I watched as the same thing happened to Clara....