Two Ponds, A River, And A Rose {[Doctor Who Fanfic]}

16: The Doctor Is Coming

I spend my days in the plush white room with Katelyn, or in her equally plush black one. We're cared for well, and I'm never bored. We can watch anything we like on the common room TV. We have every board game and electronic ever made at our fingertips. But somehow I'm far from happy. I'll never see the Doctor again. Not my Doctor. I can still see him on the show, but I won't ever feel his arms around me, or see what's really behind that mask of false happiness.

"Grace?" Katelyn says my name, waving her hand in front of my face. I blink down at our game of Yahtzee, tears glazing over my eyes.

"Sorry," I reply, picking up the canister and shaking the dice around inside. I think about all the times I could have had had these people minded their own business. I can see their point, though, as much as I hate to admit it. Time is collapsing, and they're going to fix it. But there has to be another way! A way that doesn't separate me from the Doctor. I need him almost as much as he needs me. He's alone again! And it's my fault! It's-

"Grace!" Katelyn yells as I fall off the bed onto the floor. I curl up into a ball, hugging my knees to my chest. I sob into the fluffy white rug, eyes and throat burning. Katelyn sits next to me, hand on my shoulder, begging me to calm down. I can hear the hurt in her voice: she hates seeing people upset. Finally, after what could have been hours, my tears subside and I'm able to breathe normally again. I sit up, pushing my damp hair off my face. I sit with my back against the bed frame, trying bot to think of the Doctor and thinking of nothing else.

"Miss Hallows and Miss Juniper, you're needed in control center three," a guard says, poking his head into the room. We exchange worried looks. We've never been summoned outside our rooms before, and as far as I can tell, we've been here five weeks. No sign of the Doctor.

I stand and Katelyn follows. The guard leads the way out. We walk for a good ten minutes through winding corridors and half-hidden doorways before the guard opens a door and doesn't walk inside. He motions for us to enter and we do, trusting the employees here. I gasp when a light flickers on. Huge computer screens line every wall, and a projector in the front shows a blue dot moving ever closer to a big gray box labeled 'Torchwood'. All this time and I never knew the name of the facility. And the blue dot must be-

"The Doctor's Tardis!" Exclaims Hilton., who'd appeared from a door on the side. "Correct, Miss Hallows. He's on his way!" I take a step back.

"What do you mean?" Katelyn voices my question from beside me. Hilton grins like the Cheshire Cat and bounds over to us.

"I mean, he's coming! He's going to try to rescue you!" My face screws up in confusion.

"Why do you seem so happy about that? He's going to be really angry and you don't want to-"

"Ah, but Miss Hallows, remember? I allowed him to track us! It's all part of the plan. You see, when he gets here, he'll very easily break down all defenses, but when he gets to you, his heart will shatter, and he will be back in his established timestream."

"That's horrible!" Katelyn spits. "What are you going to do? Torture us? We'll we-"

"Torture you?" Hilton interrupts again. "No no no no no! Of course not! You see, it's already been done. Well, you'll see tomorrow morning, child. I just wanted to share the news with you! Goodbye, now!"

Later that night, as I lay in the strange bed, I try to think of what he could have meant. What's already been done? I try to sleep, because I know it doesn't matter, because the Doctor is coming for us tomorrow, but I can't shake the feeling that something's wrong. I haven't felt right all day, but I'd assumed it was just a cold. Just a headache and sleepiness. Could they have drugged me? Injected me with some weird chemical that will do... I don't know, something? I close my eyes, feeling exhausted, and when I finally fall asleep, it's deep and dreamless.