The Doctor and Delphine I

Chapter 12

Soon, we came to an abrupt halt, with me once again almost smashing into the tweed of his jacket. "Oh," the Doctor said, attempting to take a step back, nearly knocking me over. I peeked over his shoulder, to see a young woman dressed in gold finery glaring at us, but her glare was fixed mainly on The Doctor. Then there was the harsh sound of a slap, and I covered myself, instinct makes me want to duck and run. "You!" the woman exclaimed. "I am so angry with you!" I came to the Doctor's side and glanced at his bright red cheeks, and his hand running through his mop of hair. Covering my mouth with my hands I jumped as the lady spoke again. "And who might you be?" The woman asked me, who looked in her early twenties. She shook her head grandly as if composing herself. "I, for one am Queen Victoria," She crossed her arms waiting for me to introduce myself. "Princess Delphine, my" He was cut off by Elizabeth's shouting. "Your daughter?!" The Doctor looked confused as I held back a laugh. "Did you know, that your father here," she said pointing at the Doctor, "left his bow tie under my pillow, and..." she reached into her dress, and pulled out a note, handing it to me sharply. "He had the guts to write me this... me the queen!" She yelled making me flinch a little. I looked at The Doctor while I opened the note, bracing for the worst. "Vicky, Very well done on being crowned queen ...and other things. Won't be seeing you ever again, eh? Doctor x" I stared at the scrawled writing in astonishment. I raised my eyebrows in questioning but my ears caught the sound of leather boots, attempting to make a guilt-free escape- and failing. The queen grabbed him by the jacket collar, sending his screwdriver flying out of the pocket. I grabbed it just in time, before freezing on the spot when Victoria sent her guards to me. She quickly smiled before she dragged the Doctor towards the ballroom as fast she could as the guards made me back up into the other room. Once we got to the ballroom, I saw the TARDIS, it's blue color greeting my eyes with happiness. "Knock her out, she shouldn't want to see her father's execution," Victoria yelled out as one of the guards pulled out his sword, knocking me behind the head with its hilt. I felt myself crumbling near the TARDIS. seeing blue as I fell to the ground.

I suddenly opened my eyes and realized that I was in the TARDIS, sitting on the leather seat, seatbelt strapped over me so I wouldn't fall. Looking up I saw The Doctor at the console. Unbuckling the seatbelt, I froze as there was a knock at the door. "But we're in the middle of space, aren't we?" I asked as I looked over to where The Doctor was, but he was no longer there. Getting up to open the door, I was met with a bizarre sight. A darkened corridor lay ahead, lit only by flickering strip lighting. I stepped out and shivered as I felt cold stone under my feet. Wait? Was I barefoot? I suppose that it didn't matter now as I was in a corridor in the depth of space and time. Honestly, I had bigger problems to contend with. I turned around, expecting to see the TARDIS, but all I could see was a seemingly endless stretch of corridor. I felt my heartbeats quicken, and my mind raced at the harsh reality of abandonment and solitude. "Calm down Delphine. He has to be here somewhere. He always is," I told myself, trying to keep my breathing steady. Left, right, left right. My feet hit the ground in this dull rhythm, over and over, around corners, up and down stairs- but no sign of a blue box or the comfort of it's flashing bulb. I stopped, gasping for air. I had been running for a long time, almost ready to give up. Tears threatened to spill as I suddenly heard a voice, loud enough to be audible, but too quiet to understand. As I retraced my steps, it grew louder, sounding like an old lady teasing me with her short evil sounding snickers and taunts.

"A crowded place, no space to breathe; Haunted memories, always lurking beneath" I shivered as the twisted poem filled my mind, echoed in my ears. "Screaming voices, so very loud! Ongoing madness, you won't go a day without!" I moved back as I tried to get away from the song. "No! NO!" I screamed, my hands over my ears, tears streaming down my cheeks as the song got louder and louder. Then I was falling, my hair whipping like flames around my face. "Visiting you, while you sleep; waking you up, will we ever stop?!" I landed with a crash, and when I reached up to my face, I felt thick, hot blood cascading from my nose. I pushed myself up onto my weak legs, unable to stand straight. "Calm on the outside, maybe so. But because of your demons, you aren't always alone!" I turned around and saw that there was a screen in front of me. Looking closely, I saw a scene from my past playing. "Dean, Sam, don't leave!" ten-year-old me sobbed, watching as they packed their bags defenseless to stop them, as I barely came up to Dean's waist and Sam's mid-thigh. The memory stung me, the thought of being alone and just a kid, and the tears were falling again. Now it was 12-year-old me, banging against the door. I had tried to tell Adam about the Doctor but he had said that I was just a big baby. "You would know!" I had yelled as he locked the door from the outside telling Dean that I was just being annoying. Luckily Dean had yelled at Adam and let me out immediately, saying "that was no way to treat your sister." But the main point was that no one believed my Doctor story. How he had believed me and how he had helped me out so much. I stepped back, not wanting to see anything anymore. I began to run, anywhere there was space, the metal floor freezing my feet as I took another step. "No one's waiting for you" A voice kept saying. My voice. Suddenly, I fell and when I opened my eyes, and there was black, but it wasn't consuming this time. It came with the feel of soft tweed on my face, and the smell of sweat and linen. The hugger which I recognized as The Doctor, was murmuring something as he was pulling me into the TARDIS, only recognizable by the humming. "Please don't cry, I hate it when you cry, I hate it when anyone cries" He was saying. Once we were in, he placed me down on the floor and that familiar look of relief, tiredness, and slight fear was etched on his face, just as when he had saved me from the Cybermen.

"Oh good, you're awake!" He said as he sat beside me. I didn't know what to do and it looked like he didn't either. It was like the cyber-ship all over again. He looked as if he was going to collapse, his clothes were ruffled, his face pale. I wiped a final tear from my sodden cheek before reaching up to flatten the strands of hair that his hands had gone through so many times in fear and pain. I saw the hurt in his eyes, the thought of once again losing someone he had tried so hard to save, someone he didn't want to let down, not again. I saw it all. "You see past all the walls people put up for their emotions, Delph," Dean had said out to me when he once was in the hospital with Sam when he had a bike fall on him. Despite his strength for me, I could see his suffering and loneliness. "What's wrong," I asked, sitting up. "I've let you down," He said. I scoffed "You haven't let me down," I whispered softly to him, afraid he would either fly out in a mad rage like Dean or cry all his emotions out like Sam did. I looked at him, his shoulders slumped, doubt in his eyes. Guilt. Years of it. "It's like a never-ending cycle, Delphine, I find people. I save them. They save me. They help me. I lose them," he told me, a hint of anger in his tone. Anger at himself. "You can't cry either," I said. The Doctor looked up at me, his face in confusion. "If you cry, then I will too" I repeated as The Doctor smiled. "So if I smile then I assume that you will too?" He asked as he put on one of his funny smiles. I nodded as I grinned back. "Always."