1Chaptah the Two! I own notteth the Doctor or him's buddy! I own...actually nothing, so DON'T COME TO ME FOR THE RIGHTS! Pinkie and I are havin' waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy too much fun with this. Oh, and I've become a fortune-teller. I seeeeeeeeeeee Doctor!angst in yoah futchah!
"Well," said the Doctor as he stepped into the library, "that was-"
"Horrifying," Cammie put in, stepping over a fallen bookcase after him. "Terrible. Scary. A nightmare." He looked at her.
"You don't have many adventures, do you?" he asked.
"Doctor, I work in a library, specifically so I didn't have to talk to people. Do I seem like the adventuring type?" She sighed shakily and shoved her hair off her face. The Doctor smiled a bit, but then hissed in pain, putting his hand to his chest. "Wha-" Cammie sighed, remembering what they had done to him. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, yeah," he said, waving a careless hand. "Little rest, I'll be shipshape." He glanced around at the fallen books, bookcases, tables, and chairs. "I doubt your boss will be thrilled with all this."
"My boss is never thrilled," Cammie said, thinking of her red-faced, yelling boss. She looked at him again. "You look terrible."
"Thanks." He laughed, but then clutched his chest again with a small groan of pain. She frowned.
"Do you have anyone to take care of you?" she asked. He shook his head.
"Nah, I'm fine. Like I said, I've been through worse than this." He smiled at her, but she still frowned at him.
"I can't let you go round by yourself like this," she said. "You don't have anyone?"
The Doctor sighed, looking down. "No...not anymore." Not after Rose, Martha, Donna...
Cammie blushed. Okay, touchy subject there. "Oh...well, until you're healed, you have me, because I'm not letting you go alone like this."
The Doctor looked at her for a moment. "You'll go with a complete stranger that very nearly had you killed just because he's injured and alone?"
"Yes," said Cammie simply.
Suddenly, the pain in the Doctor's chest faded as he was sucked away by a flood of memories. It was replaced by something different. A tightness. An Ache. A Longing.
Rose...
He'd finally realized, in this moment of relative calm, how much Cammie looked like his old companion. A flood of emotion froze him to his spot, memories swelling to the front of his mind.
"So the year 5 billion. The Sun expands, the Earth gets roasted."
"That was our first date."
"We had chips."
Her smile. Her laugh. The feeling of her arms around him when she hugged him. The sound of her voice. Her breath in his ear as she told him that everything was going to be alright. Everything came rushing back to the surface so staggeringly quickly that it almost made him dizzy. He'd let his guard down with her. He'd loved her despite knowing that it would never last…and he hadn't even had the chance to tell her properly. He'd wasted so much time trying to convince himself that he wasn't in lover with her…and then she was gone. In the blink of an eye. Never to return. He'd burned up a sun to say goodbye to her, and he still hadn't been able to bring himself to say the words. To say those three simple words.
"Doctor?" Cammie put a hand on his arm, "What's wrong?"
In moments, the Doctor's mask had been replaced, covering up the raw, broken soul he'd revealed while thinking of Rose.
"Ah. Yeah, I'm….I'm fine." He said, trailing off.
Cammie frowned, disbelieving, but didn't press for information. She could see that whatever was eating at him was a deep wound and she didn't want to go poking around in it.
"Right. Well." The Doctor said, briskly, "If you're going to stay and play nursemaid, I may as well show you my ship. Allons-y!"
French… Cammie mused as she followed the Doctor out of the library.
"Well," said the Doctor, regaining his cheerful manner as he reached the TARDIS and patted one of her outer walls, "this is it!" Cammie looked at him blankly.
"Doctor, this is a police box..."
That's what everyone says, he thought. Without a word, he opened the door. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow before peeking her head in.
"What..." She stepped out. She stepped back in, holding her arm out to see if it was really as big as it appeared. She got back out and went around to the back, lightly tapping the back wall of the TARDIS. The Doctor grinned. He was so used to that reaction.
"How does it do that?!" asked Cammie as she ran back around and looked into the TARDIS again.
"TimeLord science," replied the Doctor. "Like it?"
"Yeah!" she answered automatically. "It's awesome!"
"Thank you," he said. "It's the TARDIS."
"TARDIS?" she repeated as she stepped in. He followed, saying, "Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
"Oh." She stepped further into the TARDIS, lightly placing her hand on one of the pillars. "It's brilliant."
"Thank you," he said again. "I can take you anywhere in the universe. Any time."
"I'm sure you can," said Cammie, suddenly remembering why she had come with him. "But not right now. Right now, you need to rest." She crossed her arms over her chest.
The Doctor groaned.
"You can't be serious!" He said, "You're turning down an adventure to the stars to put me on bedrest!"
"I am. Yes." Cammie replied, sticking steadfastly to her guns.
"Do you know who I am?" The Doctor asked.
"Not nearly well enough, no." Cammie said, "But you're hurt. Badly. And you are going to bed, even if it's the last thing you do before kicking me out." I can't believe it…she's scolding me! No one scolds me! the Doctor thought.
"Now come on." Cammie continued, brusquely, "Where's your room?"
The Doctor lead the way to his bedroom, and paused.
"You going to follow me everywhere?" He asked, his voice slightly sharp.
"N-no…" Cammie said, oddly hurt, "Uhm…Do you need anything before I go?"
"No. I'm fine." The Doctor said curtly, before going into his room and locking the door behind him.
She frowned at the shut door. Well, she thought sarcastically, I apologize for being nice and worrying about your well-being. I won't do it again. She sighed and pushed her hair away from her face. She had a feeling she walked into something she shouldn't have.
The Doctor sighed. That was mean, and she was just trying to help. But he didn't need her to act like she was his babysitter. He was nine hundred and six, he didn't need a babysitter.
Cammie sighed again. She could understand his annoyance. She had a bad habit of mothering people when they were sad or sick. Her best friend, Joy, laughed at her constantly whenever she went into "therapist mode," as she had nicknamed it. The name annoyed Cammie, but she knew it was accurate. That was another reason she worked at a library; people didn't hang around long enough for Cammie to learn about their problems or struggles.
She wandered away from his door to the console room, looking at the controls with interest. So many buttons, she thought, looking at all of them. She hit one at random and instantly, music started playing. She hit it again and the music stopped. She hit another button and the lights went out, so she pushed it again to turn them back on. She flipped a switch and the lights turned red, then blue, then yellow, then purple. It gave her a headache, so she flipped it back down.
This is so weird, she thought in awe. But she sighed. The Doctor was still on her mind. I should go apologize... she thought. I don't want to, but I should...
She turned and began walking back to the door.
The Doctor, meanwhile, sat up in his room.
She's playing with the Console? No! Don't do anything stupid!
He lurched out of bed and was just opening the door when Cammie arrived.
"I'm sorry..." She mumbled.
At the same time, the Doctor said, "Cammie!"
"What?" Cammie looked confused.
"Er... don't mess with the console, please." The Doctor said.
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry..."
"It's fine... just don't do it again."
The Doctor turned and tried to retreat back into his room, but Cammie stuck her foot in the door.
"There's something bothering you." She said, frowning, "What is it?"
The Doctor gave her a dark look.
"Whatever it is is my problem." He said, "Not yours."
He forced her foot out of the door, and closed it on her.
"Well excuse me for helping." She huffed, turning on her heel, and making to stalk away.
Her heart broke when she heard a choked-off sob from the other side of the door. She couldn't help it. She turned around and went back to the door, trying the knob to find it unlocked.
"Doctor...?" She asked, timidly as she entered the room.
There was no response. She opened the door wider, and saw the small form of the Doctor curled up and shaking on the bed.
Cammie bit back her gasp. Oh, no, she thought, her eyes widening. "Doctor?" she said softly. "Are you okay?" He either didn't hear her or chose to ignore her, Cammie didn't know, but she didn't care much either. She crossed the room, sitting at the edge of the bed. He ignored her again. She sighed and lightly put her hand on him, hoping to provide some comfort. He curled up tighter at her touch.
What have I gotten myself into? she thought. She had never been good with people. And now here she was as one cried about something she'd never understand. She lightly patted him, softly saying, "Shh, it's okay."
"It's not," he choked out, forcing himself to sit up. "You have n-no idea."
"Then give me an idea," she said in the same soft voice. "Tell me what's wrong." He sighed and looked at her.
"Alright...you deserve an explanation. But I warn you, it'll be a long one."
Cammie nodded. The Doctor sighed.
"A few years ago, my companion was a girl named R...a girl named Rose. She was...she was brilliant. She was with me for a long time. I loved her...I shouldn't have, but I loved her. She was with me when I regenerated- which is what I do instead of dying, I just change into a new man entirely- and somehow put up with it. It must have been hard for her...you think you know someone and then they're just someone else. But she stayed with me through everything. And then..." He shut his eyes for a moment. "Then she got taken away from me...a-and I found a way to say goodbye, which was all I wanted. But I didn't..." He shook his head. "You just...you remind me of her so much..." He shut his eyes again and looked down.
"Oh...Doctor..." Cammie's eyes welled with tears.
She couldn't think of anything else to do. She reached her arms out, and wrapped them around him, pulling him close to her. The Doctor tensed. Why was she...no...he didn't care. Her arms were warm, and he was broken, and tired, and so very, very cold. His head dropped to her shoulder, and the storm finally broke. Hundreds of years of suffering, of sorrow, of pain, crashing out in silent sobs that shook his whole body, and waves of tears. And he found...that while he missed his Rose...her influence was washing away with his tears. He found himself more willing, no, more able to open his heart to this new companion, and let her inside to heal the hurt like Rose had. And maybe...maybe this one wouldn't leave quite so soon.
"It's alright, Doctor." Cammie murmured, "It's alright. I'm here for you. I won't go. I promise."
Soon, The Doctor's tears stopped, and his breathing evened out. He had fallen asleep.
Cammie smiled, and laid him back on the pillow, pulling the blanket up to his chin. As she moved to leave, though, the Doctor shifted, reaching out to her to stop her.
"Okay." She said, quietly, "I'll stay."
She folded her legs under her on the bed, pushing her hair off her face. This man and his magical blue box confused her. But, after hearing that, she understood his behavior from before. She wiped her slightly wet eyes and sighed. It had been a really long, confusing day.
Cammie yawned and made to get up, but the Doctor moved only slightly in his sleep, so she stayed where she was. She'd wait until he was in a deeper sleep to leave.
She was pretty sure she wasn't dreaming; even her mind couldn't make something as insane as all this up. But it seemed just too crazy to be reality.
After a while, her exhaustion told her she needed to go to sleep. She stood up, the Doctor not moving at all, and left the room, shutting the door softly behind her. Oh, she thought, I don't have a room. She looked down the hall and, as if by magic, a room was there that she somehow knew was hers. Handy, she mused, walking to it and closing the door behind her. She collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep as soon as she hit the soft blankets, before she could even take off her shoes.