| Date: 16 January 2008
Characters: , Location: hotel dining room Link to IJ: thread #38365 |
 He was soaking wet, as he walked into the dining room. Really dripping, all over the carpet.The truly strange part was that he didn't seem to notice. He took a cup of tea and a chair, ignoring the 'squish' when he sat. He swiped a stream of water away from his nose to keep it dripping into his cup, and looked around. "Well. That was fun," he said, to no one in particular. |
 Romana had finally sat down to have a proper meal, instead of just drinks, when this sopping wet man came in, and sat down two tables over.She peered at him. Oh, yes. That was definitely the Doctor, although not a face she knew. That outfit of his looked ridiculous, all wet and clingy! But since he was male at least, he might possibly know her. "Doctor," she called out. "Trust you to find trouble in this place. Or did you go swimming on whim?" |
| The only thing that saved him choking on his tea was his respiratory by-pass. He looked up and he stared. "Romana?!?" he called back, incredulously. |
| She grinned and waved a bit. "You're welcome to come over here and drip on my table, if you like. In fact, please do." |
| He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, she was still there. So, he did the reasonable thing. Stood up, and took his cup of tea over to her table to drip. "How long have you been here? Where were you last? What's the last thing you remember? " And started talking. |
| Oh dear, he did look like he'd seen a ghost, didn't he? "I've been here, hmm, most a day? Hard to tell, I can't quite grasp the flow of time here. I was on Gallifrey, taking a walk in the Citadel. I turned a corner and here I was." |
| His nose wrinkled up and his forehead furrowed. "What?" He asked. He wasn't quite ready for an answer apparently, though, because he added: "No. What?" for extra emphasis. There was no reason he should have been more shocked by her presence here than 8 year old Koschei's, or a Master who'd never gone mad, but there you had it. |
| "That wasn't the response you were excepting, I can see." To be fair, Romana hadn't been expecting the Doctor's flabbergasted response, either. |
| "I don't know! Hadn't thought about it much!" Which was true. Very, very true. |
| "Fair enough. But I'd rather gotten the impression that this place draws in people all over time and space? From all kinds of universes, in fact. I met a female you, earlier, that threw me a bit. Eventually the novelty wears off, I'm sure." She rolled her eyes. She took a good look at the Doctor's current form. He really looked terribly young, by the standard of most humanoids. Have many regenerations along was he, she wondered? |
| Romana rolling her eyes, had somehow put him at ease. Much more like it. "You've gotten the right impression, and I believe I met someone else who met a female me. Very interesting, that, but I can't quite wrap my head around why I'd want to be a girl." Not that that was actually the point. |
| "Doctor," Romana said a bit sternly, "I know you're not implying there's anything wrong with being a girl. She told me she'd always been one. I don't think she saw much point in being a boy. Oh, and I ran into the Master. Bit of a change in look for him. Sandy brown hair, no beard." |
| "There is something wrong with being a girl! Things leak." Like he wasn't sitting there, dripping wet. Wasn't the same, though. Not even close. "Ah, right. Suit or brown jacket and ugly shirt?" |
| Romana decided to let the comment on leaking go on by. It was almost nice, to know the Doctor was a rude as ever. "Ah, black suit?" Romana wrinkled her nose, having a hard time imagining the Master in a brown jacket and ugly shirt. The Master had many flaws, but always seemed to have style, in all his incarnations. Still, infinite possibilities... |
| "Stay away from that one. Crazy as a loon and three times as dangerous. Also dead, but that's not the point. The one with the horrible clothes is quite nice though." |
| "I talked with him long enough to see he's even madder then before we brought his back, yes. Oh, I hope I didn't cause that somehow." Romana worried. |
| He opened his mouth and inclined his head a little. "Caused how exactly?" |
| Romana opened her mouth, and closed it, and shrugged helplessly. "I just made an assumption that I shouldn't have. Was I ever President of Gallifey in your universe?" |
| He shook his head slowly, and mouthed 'no' silently. He looked a little wide eyed. |
| "Hmm. Then clearly there's some divergence between our universes. And the universe that the Master that I spoke to and yours. He greeted me with the title immediately, so he must be from a universe closer to mine, if not mine. Well, I am. President, in my own time and universe, I mean. I made a decision recently that I'm beginning to think had consequences that I wasn't expecting." Romana rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Would it help if I said there was a war on?" She looked at the Doctor, a little embarrassed. |
| His face drained of color. "No. No it wouldn't and maybe he's from a universe closer than mine and stop talking about it." |
| Romana jerked back, like she'd been slapped, and stared at the Doctor. "All right. I suppose it doesn't really matter does it?" she whispered. She reached a hand towards him, as if to take his hand, but then drew back. She wasn't sure how he'd react. Why was the look on his face more frightening then any of the madness the Master had spewed? |
| He reached out for her and took her hand before she'd had time to retreat very far. "Doesn't really matter," he repeated, voice slow and a little disbelieving. He needed to say that more. Maybe someday he'd start believing his own lies. |
| Romana sat holding his hand, eyes closed, for a moment. She got to do it so rarely these days. Somehow that was fine when she was traveling alone, because she just imagined him going on doing what he'd always done. Not being able hold him hand during this war was terrible. Best to just concentrate on how it felt right now, forget the war and all the things she might have done wrong, and remember better days. She opened her eyes, and said brightly, "So, how did you get soaked like that?" That had to be a safe topic. She didn't let go of his hand. |
| He no way, no how, wanted to let go of her hand - so he didn't. "I chased a very small lizard thing into a puddle of water that only barely qualifies for being called a lake." |
| "Was it at least a particularly threatening lizard?" Romana teased. Her heart wasn't quite it in though. She was trained as both a mathematician and a historian. Her mind, despite her best efforts to dwell on better thing, was insistently ticking away possible permutations of events that might make him look at her like that, and hold her hand like it was life line. |
| It was a lifeline. It was life. It was Romana. He wasn't sure he was capable of letting go, though in the back of his mind he knew he'd have to. "Maybe particularly interesting instead. Very blue." His heart wasn't in it , either . Either one of them. |
| "Yes, you usually find bright skinned lizards in more tropical climates. Although, I'm not sure this place conforms to the usual anything." She'd gotten used to making small talk, while playing the politician. But, for all that she and the Doctor could talk for hours about nothing, it had never felt like small talk. She was afraid this conversation might turn into that, if neither of them said what was on their minds. |
| "I have the feeling nothing here is native," he admitted, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. His eyes were much more serious than his tone. It wasn't going to turn to that - wouldn't stay that, anyway. He didn't have the staminia at the moment. |
| "That would make sense." She paused for another moment, and then said gently, "You should drink your tea. You must be getting cold. I know my dinner is." She didn't let go of his hand yet. He'd let go when he was ready. |
| "Gallifrey's gone." Nothing else, no overt emotion, no lead up. Just plainly stated, bald, fact. |
| Romana sat still for moment, trying to absorb the blow of those words. She tried to tell her herself that there was no guarantee that her Gallifrey was doomed, but her hearts were breaking for this Doctor. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "The Daleks?" |
| He kept hold of her because he knew he was saying something that was damned near inconceivable. He also knew that it was going to hang between them if he'd said it or not. "Well," he said, after a long moment. "I thought they'd gone too. Should've known it wasn't that easy." |
| Romana nodded. She'd really meant to ask if his Gallifrey had been destroyed by the same forces hers was fighting right now, but that answered her question. "Well, if killing them off was easy, we'd have done it a long time ago." She wasn't trying to be flippant. It was the truth. "Did we cripple them at least? Give the younger species a fighting chance?" Right now that seemed like a impossible task, as the Daleks swarmed practically everything. |
| "Oh yes," he said with a slow smile. "Oh, yes. It's a beautiful universe, and it's not safe but it's fighting and thriving and teaming with life." |
| "That's good." Romana felt her face get hot, as her body wanted to cry. She refused to cry. "It seems so very hopeless, in my time, on my Gallifrey. I'm stuck in one place, trying to steer a people that simply was not ready for a fight. You're off actually doing the fighting. I feel terrible, watching the death counts roll in, while I'm still relatively safe. And still worrying about you as much as I do, when I'm President of all of my people." |
| He squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry." He said that a lot. He wondered if he ever said it to the right people, or person, he'd stop feeling like he had to repeat it to anyone who would listen. |
| Romana took a deep breath, feeling the need to cry begin to ease. "Maybe I'll come up with a clever plan at the last minute. I picked that knack up from you. Then managing to get elected will be good for something." She'd really thought she could do some good, once. |
| "I promise, you'll come up with a brilliant plan, and the Dalek's will lose, and lose badly." Well, no matter how the rest ended, there was that. |
| Romana finally smiled a bit. The Doctor's utterly certainly on that point made her start to believe it a little. "I confess I've spent most of my time since I arrived looking for someone who knew that wasn't as mad as a hatter. Everyone tells me there's no point in trying to find a way back home, it will just happen when it happens. What is there to do around here? Aside from falling into ponds?" |
| "Everyone tells you right. You'll get back when it's ready for you to go back - whatever it is - and probably without ever having been gone. For things to do. Well, there's a library, and several randy young men around." He paused. "Or several of a randy young man. Take your pick." |
| "I think I'll stick with the library. But there must be a story behind the 'several of a randy young man'." |
| He laughed. "One of my companions is running around, several times over. Stick to the library - you should be safe there. If anyone introduces themselves to you with a handshake and smile bright enough to blind you, run the other direction." |
| "Or, I could just bop him on the nose, with a newspaper, if he gets too excited." It was really good to hear him laugh. |
| "He might like it," he warned, without really warning. He liked Jack just fine, but he was making for convenient distraction just at the moment, and it felt good to laugh. |
| "Oh, dear. Hiding in the library it is then." She had no intention of avoiding anyone just because they liked to flirt...although the library did sound appealing. "Anyone else I might know about?" |
| He didn't really believe she did. He thought about it, and after a moment, came out with. "Susan?" He sounded a little pained, somehow. |
| "Your granddaughter, Susan? I've never met her. But I'd love to!" The Doctor had mentioned her a few times, and of course, there were the standard records about her life up to the time she left Gallifrey. Romana had never asked what happened to her. |
| "She's rattling around the place somewhere. If you see her, feel free to give her my love." |
| "Of course." Romana glanced at their still linked hands. "It was long day before I got here, and I am hungry," she explained apologetically, as she started to loosen her grasp. |
| He grumbled at her when she started to take her hand back. "Oh, fine, fine. I suppose you have to eat." He smiled, quick and warm. "If you need to find me, my TARDIS is in the janitor's closet on the third floor." |
| "Well, you don't have to leave if you don't want to. But I imagine you want some dry clothes." She eyed his still dripping suit. |
| He paused and then looked slowly down at himself. "Unfortunately, you imagine correctly." He grimaced more than smiled. Things were chaffing. |
| "Then I'll see you later. After I have a good sleep, I think." |
| He nodded. "Yes ma'am," he said, cheekily. He stood, bent and kissed her cheek and left. |
