To Be Continued (A Doctor Who Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty-Six

"We've got to get to the TARDIS."

Soon, there were marks on all of us. They must have been all around us. We shot back out into the hallway & ran up the same way we'd come.

Suddenly, the Doctor & I were standing before a bruised & bloody Anthony. We both dropped to our knees next to him & I screamed his name.

Neither of us could remember what happened, but we were two floors up, now, almost to the TARDIS.

"Anthony," I smoothed his hair & tried to keep my tears from rolling onto his face. After a moment, the Doctor put his screwdriver away & I sobbed.

"He's going to be okay," he assured me, laying a lanky hand on my shoulder. And for a second, I believed him...until I saw the worry in his eyes. His hearts were breaking as he struggled to remain calm. For me.

"Do you know what your name means?" he asked suddenly.

It seemed like an inappropriately random question & I shook my head in confusion. 

"Hoffnung....It's German for hope.  That's what you are, my little human. The day I'd met you, I was a lonely man. I was terribly,  terribly lost. And do you know what you did for me? You gave me hope. And that is so, so powerful, Elizabeth. Have just a little hope. That's all we need."

I wanted to laugh (and cry a lot more) because he was completely right.  And for that he was also a complete nutter. The Doctor had found hope in a 17 year old girl who hid in cupboards who turned out to be his kick-ass wife. I ran from things she would run to give a nice smack across the face. She had defeated so many members of the Silence & for all I know, I may have kissed their feet.

So, no I had not been River Song. But it was about time that I start.