Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 26 - The Runaway Bride, Part 1

Lyssa stared at the wall where Rose's image had been until it began to blur with tears. She sniffed, wiping them away the back of one hand. "It's not fair," she muttered, voice breaking. "Why do things have to be so awful?"

The Doctor sighed, rubbing one hand soothingly up and down her back. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "It's not your fault," she insisted, wanting to head off any chance that he might blame himself for anything that had happened. "Not any of this. You tried to stop it, you did stop it. Torchwood and the Daleks and the Cybermen are to blame, but not you. Rose and I aren't the only victims of them either. You're hurting too."

He was silent for a long moment, the only sound her shaky breathing until at last he murmured slowly, "Yeah. I am."

She bit back fresh tears at the mix of pain and resignation in his voice, shifting in his arms to wrap her own arms around him. "We'll see her again," she promised. "And she's going to be even more amazing. Totally going to run circles around us."

He let out a choked laugh. "She already did."

"Okay, but now she'll run them faster," she countered. "Probably wearing high heels while she does it because she's magic."

"That she would, fairy-girl, that she would," he murmured with more than a hint of grief, tugging her closer to him and resting his cheek against the top of her head. Leaning against his chest, she closed her eyes, letting the silence of the too empty TARDIS envelop them.

Finally he released her with a heavy sigh, pulling away and swiping at his damp eyes and moving to the console, taking her hand in his. He ran his fingers over some of the levers without any of the enthusiasm he normally had, not yet pushing any of them.

Lyssa curled her fingers tightly around his, wiping her own face as clean as she could with her other hand. A flash of gold in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she looked up. She sucked in a startled breath when she saw a swirl of golden dust twirling up towards the ceiling on the other side of the room before fading to reveal a familiar red-haired woman wearing a wedding dress, looking around the room in rapidly increasing shock and horror.

The Doctor followed her gaze and reared back. "What?" he declared, aghast. The woman turned around at the noise, then yelped in surprise. "What?" he repeated again, even more confused.

The bride - Donna - stared at him in disdain. "Who are you?"

The Doctor rapidly scanned the room for any hint as to what had happened, dumbfounded.  "But..."

"Where am I?" she demanded.

"What?"

"What on earth is this place?" she yelled, growing irate.

The Doctor could only stare at her, lost. "What?" He stared down at a dial, his bewilderment only growing. "You can't do that, I wasn't... We're in flight! That is... that is physically impossible! How did you...?"

"Tell me where I am!" she commanded. "I demand you tell me where I am, right now!"

He just continued to stare at her disbelievingly. "Inside the TARDIS."

Lyssa raised a hand to cover her smile at the back and forth between the two who would eventually become the greatest of friends. She had no intention of interrupting any time soon. Donna was the best.

"The what?"

"The TARDIS," the Doctor repeated.

"The what?" the bride demanded again, clearly wanting her own turn at a round of 'whats'.