Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 84 - To Live Again

Lyssa stepped out of the TARDIS with a smile on her face. After a hot shower - which she'd remained in long after she was actually clean, because hot running water was amazing after three weeks without - she'd braided her hair back and dressed in some clean clothes before rejoining the Doctor in the console room. They'd made a brief trip before landing in England, 1946, which was where they were now.

She glanced around at her surroundings. They were outside a modest two-story home on the edge of a small town in the middle of the country. It seemed to be spring on the cusp of summer, as there were flowers blooming everywhere, filling the landscape with life and adding splashes of color to the world. There were fields all around filled with freshly plowed dirt and sprouting buds of green. It was beautiful to see after the gloomy darkness that had seemed to be ever-present while she had been in London.

"Is this it?" she asked the Doctor in a low voice, glancing up at the house.

The Doctor nodded. "It's a quiet little place. Small town of about one thousand people, it's fairly peaceful. Nice place to retire and grow a garden, if that's what you like."

"Lyssa Devons, is that you?"

They both turned at the sound of an elderly gentleman's voice. Lyssa lit up when she saw Dr. Constantine walking around the corner of the house, leaning slightly on his cane for support but looking both healthy and happy. He had a brightness in his eyes that hadn't been there before, and a wide smile on his face.

He raised his eyebrows when he saw the Doctor. "And the mysterious friend! I see you've both made it through the war virtually untouched." He smiled. "It is good to see you both."

Lyssa grinned excitedly, stepping forward to shake his hand. "It's good to see you too! How are you doing?"

He returned the handshake warmly before stepping back to gesture at the house. "I've retired to the countryside, as you can see. I retired from London after the war, and now I serve as a doctor to this little community. It's quite peaceful - rarely anything more serious than a broken limb from an adventurous lad climbing a bit too high in a tree. It's quite nice after the events of the last seven years. And how about you - what have you been up to these last few years?"

"Uh..." Lyssa glanced up at the Doctor uncertainly. "Well, we've been traveling since the end of the war. You know, seeing the sights." She smiled awkwardly. "The time just kind of flew by, you know?"

The Doctor snorted, but looked away innocently when she tried to glare at him. "I'm glad you got some peace after the war, doctor," he told Dr. Constantine sincerely. "If there's anyone who deserves it, it's you."

Dr. Constantine leaned on his cane, frowning thoughtfully. "I hardly deserve it, I should think. The war ended for me in 1945, even if its effects linger on. There are a good many men for whom the war has yet to end." He studied the Doctor somberly. "I dare say you might be one of them."

The Doctor looked away, pain in his expression. Lyssa glanced up at him sorrowfully, lifting a hand hesitantly up to his arm before reluctantly letting it fall away before it touched him. Dr. Constantine may understand his pain, but she did not - could not, how could she?

She had never lost everything to a war she didn't start.

"But I didn't ask you to visit just so I could dredge up bad memories," Dr. Constantine said hastily, sounding apologetic. "The war may have taken much from me - from all of us, but life goes on, and we rebuild." He turned around, limping towards the side of the house. "If you would come with me?"

Lyssa followed him curiously, the Doctor silent beside her with a pensive expression on his face. But as they rounded the side of the house and neared the back, they both looked up at the sound of children's laughter filling the air.