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The TARDIS slowly materialised without a noise, completely unnoticed by the crowd outside who carried on with their day completely unaware of the time travelling machine and it's inhabitants. The Doctor opened the door, stepping out in his long green overcoat before smiling behind him and holding his hand out to the ginger girl stood just on the other side of the doorway.
"You'll be fine, I promise." He swore as Danni hesitated, eyeing the people outside warily. People worried her. She couldn't be sure what they'd do, and how she'd react if they were a threat. She was much weaker than she once was, but that wouldn't stop her. Once she flew into a rage, nothing but the Doctor could calm her down.
"If you say so..." She muttered, unconvinced as she took his hand and stepped out into the marketplace. Whilst he was dressed up, she was wearing a very comfy blue jumper-dress with thick tights and flat shoes, simple but it hid her skinniness enough that she didn't feel overly self-conscious.
"I do." He replied cheekily, leading her through the marketplace, "Nothing is going to happen, and if it starts we're leaving." He promised her.
"You'd never leave anyone in trouble." She replied with a smile and he paused to turn face her.
"Yes I would." He told her, "I'd let galaxies burn to get you safe."
"You're being sentimental again." She teased, "You'd go for quite a lot around here." She motioned to the stalls. The Doctor had been giving her vitamin-and-other-things-she-didn't-understand injections for a while now, making sure that even though she was losing body weight through not eating that she was still sustaining herself. It came from a market orbiting a planet called Akhaten, one of many different communities that lived on it's rings and she'd been trying to get him to take her there for ages. They didn't have a physical monitory system, instead trading on things of sentimental value to the owner. Hence the small blue paper bag she held in her other hand.
"What did you decide on?" He asked as they started to check the stalls.
"A couple of trinkets me and Rose got, and this." She let go of his hand to pull out a section of a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
"An outfit?" He asked, surprised and she nodded.
"The outfit I was wearing when I was sent here. The only things I have left from my universe."
"Is that a good idea?" He frowned. He didn't want her to trade something away that she'd regret later. It was supposed to be a nice, quiet trip. Well, he'd called it a date and she'd hugged him tightly at the though, so that's what it had become. He didn't do enough for her, everything they did was for someone else like Amy or Rose.
"I'm not planning on selling it." She explained, "They're more a just-in-case insurance deal. Extraordinary circumstances and such." She moved to kiss him on the cheek but paused, staring off to their left. He turned to see what she was looking at but saw nothing out of the ordinary until a flash of red hair caught his eye. He looked down to see Danni had disappeared, running after whatever she had seen. He yelled in surprise then chased after her.
~0~0~0~
Danni skidded down an alleyway, stopping in front of the Silent that stood there. She panted hard, unable to contain the fury flooding through her at the mere sight of the creature.
"Didn't you get the message?" She snarled, "I said stay away."
"The Doctor will go to Lake Silencio." It breathed.
"Yes, I know he will." She retorted, "Until then; Stay. Away."
"He will marry Melody Pond." Her eyes narrowed.
"Over my dead body." she snapped, blood boiling, "He won't marry River while there's a breath left in my body."
"Then you shall breathe no more." It raised it's arm, electricity sparking from it's gigantic fingers but she charged at it, grabbing a rock from the ground and hurling it at the creature. The rock struck in in the forehead as she launched herself at it.
"Danni!" She jumped in surprise, she hadn't realised how loud the drumming had been. So loud her ears were ringing as the Doctor appeared behind her in the entrance to the alley. She skidded on her knees as she hit the floor, scraping the skin off her knees. She yelped in pain as she looked around, but the Silent had disappeared, leaving her bleeding and shaking on the floor. The Doctor rushed over and knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his as he checked the skin there. He picked the small pieces of stone out of the dents in her palms before placing a small kiss on each of them. He loved taking care of her, it made him feel useful which was rare. Considering he knew his time was ending soon, he'd been feeling rather useless of late. He also knew it would calm her down and hopefully take her mind of the latest bunch of monsters her mind had created.
"I want to go back to the TARDIS." She whispered forlornly, sniffing as she started crying. He smiled softly at her, brushing her hair behind her ear then cupped her face. He pressed a kiss on her forehead before leaning his on hers, closing his eyes. She was so scared, the emotion was rolling off her in waves and he was supposed to stop the fear, he was the Doctor. It was his job, and he couldn't even do it for her. He couldn't keep her from destroying herself.
"Of course, Danni-Girl." He replied gently, helping her off the floor. He picked up her discarded bag as he led her back into the street, "What was it this time?"
"A Silent." She murmured tiredly, "They've started telling me you're going to marry River."
"Well, you know that's not true, so that's how you know they're not real." He reasoned, "Have they been saying that long?" She shook her head.
"I saw something I think triggered it." She told him as he held the door to the TARDIS open, "It was after I left that godforsaken planet. I'm not sure, I don't really remember." She dismissed quickly. He turned to her, slightly suspicious at her u-turn on the subject.
"Well, if you can't remember it, perhaps you shouldn't dwell on it." He suggested, "You know I don't want to marry River."
"Until I've lived through it, I'm never going to believe you." She replied sadly, "Why wouldn't you want River over me? She can give you... Well, she can give you things I can't." She settled on and he frowned, the doors closing as he followed her up to the console.
"Like what?" He asked.
"Well..." She paused for a moment, "I don't know how old she was when she went to the Library, she could have been hundreds of years old. I can't give you that, can I? Just at best another 60 or so. That's nothing in a Time Lord's life."
"I first met you almost 300 years ago and I've seen you much more than I ever see River." He pointed out. He knew there was more to it than that, seeing her trying to think of other reasons to hide the one she wanted to say, "So tell me what this is really about."
"She's part Time Lord." She mumbled, "There's other things she can give you I can't. Like..." She glanced around, looking at everything but him, "Like children."
"Oh." He answered. A long time ago, back when the Ponds were still with him, before he'd left them behind to live their normal lives, he'd found Danni and Amy in the medical bay. He'd panicked immediately, thinking something bad had happened to his Danni-Girl. He'd wanted to go find out who had hurt her when she'd piped up, embarrassed because she was taking a pregnancy test. Apparently it'd occurred to her they'd be having a lot of sex but not using any contraception. He laughed in relief that she was okay, then had sat her down and told her that humans may look like Time Lord's, but genetically they were quite different and that it wasn't possible. She'd been sad for a moment before smiling and nodding, telling him it was good to know.
"You've got a daughter now." He couldn't help the smile at the thought of Jenny, flying around somewhere, saving worlds just like her dad, "Why wouldn't you want more?" He pulled her up against him, hugging her tightly and rocking her slightly.
"If I can't have them with you," he told her, "then I don't want them. I have Jenny and you, that's all I need."
"You can't just dismiss it like that." She sniffed.
"I'm not." He promised, "I've had a long time to think about it. I'm okay with it." He tilted her head so she was looking at him, "I'm guessing you're not, otherwise this wouldn't be upsetting you."
"I just..." She wiped her eyes and leant on his chest, "I always thought I'd be a mum eventually. River's always in my head, it's just another argument in favour of Melody Pond, isn't it?" He placed a kiss on her lips, a gentle but quick one before smiling at her.
"No, it's not." He promised, "I'm not leaving you for River. It's you and me, in the TARDIS, until the end of time. And no one, especially not a large-haired part Time Lord archaeologist is going to change that, okay?" She stared at him, her eyes searching his sincere expression, and she knew he was being honest with her. She pulled him down into a forceful kiss, pouring every emotion she could into it. He felt her grasp at his arms tightly to keep herself steady, her knees unable to hold herself up.
"Take me to bed, Theta." She whispered against his lips.
"I... are you sure you're up to it?" He asked, torn between her rapidly degrading physical state and really, really wanting to take her to bed. After all, even with her tired look and the weight she'd lost, she was absolutely gorgeous and despite popular opinion he wasn't an idiot.
"Yes." She told him firmly, her hand trailing down his front, "Now."
~0~0~0~
"You're doing it again." The Doctor blinked, Danni breaking him out of his thoughts. They were laying in bed, facing each other. The Doctor's arm was draped loosely over her side, tracing random shapes through the thin sheet covering the pair.
"What?" He asked, confused.
"You're staring." She replied, "We were talking, then you started staring. You just stopped talking and started staring, it's very odd because you're usually quite vocal." She smirked at her own words and his grip tightened, pulling her up against him.
"I thought you were the vocal one." He teased, leaning down to capture her lips. She gasped as his hand ran under the cover, his cool fingers causing her skin to pickle as the beating in her head began to climb again from its sedated level. She pulled herself up against him, wrapping her leg around his and flipping them over so she was on top.
"Stop it." She giggled out, "You know what happens if you tease me like that."
"I was counting on it." He retorted as his hands fell to her hips, "Although, I don't think Rory was." She flushed with embarrassment, letting her head hang and and her hair cover her face.
"Stop it, that poor boy didn't know what was happening." They both laughed as they recalled Rory's face as Danni pinned him to the wall and kissed him, it was good they could joke about it now. The Doctor smiled softly as he looked up at her, her skin still glowing from their recent... activities and her skin tinted slightly pink from the memory of the 'Rory incident'.
"You're doing it again." She called down at him and he shook his head, breaking his train of thought.
"Let's go for picnic." He declared and her brows furrowed in confusion.
"Where did that come from?" She asked.
"I know this beautiful moon, just off the planet Jeen'farah. You can see deep into space, but it has it's own atmosphere and blue grass just like in Wales." She continued to frown, looking over her shoulder at the door hesitatingly. She didn't really want to go out, where there were people and stuff happening. Why couldn't they just stay in the TARDIS? She looked back down at him, seeing his hopeful gaze then down at herself, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. He would try and reassure her she was beautiful, but she could see her ribs and her hipbones sticking out. When had she become so thin? She knew she hadn't been hungry lately, but she had to have eaten recently. She tried to think back, Donna had made her some soup, when had that been? She paled slightly, that had been weeks ago! His smile fell as she rolled off of him and pulled the blanket up to cover herself.
"I don't know..." She replied quietly, "Can't we just stay here? I'm not really hungry..." He shifted so they were face to face, reaching over and stroking her hair as he smiled down at her.
"There won't be anyone there." He reassured her, "And you don't have to eat anything, we'll just take it for atmospheric effect. It'll just be us two, I promise." He knew why she didn't want to go anywhere, this Danni had just come from Midnight and her reaction to the humans on that little shuttle craft had deeply scared her. She was afraid other people might set her off, but he knew they wouldn't. In her head, she was safe if she was around him, but other people compromised that. He had to slowly show her that she was okay.
"Promise?" She asked after a pause and he nodded.
"I promise." He repeated and she sighed.
"Okay then." She relented and the large, ecstatic grin on his face caused her to smile as well. He hugged her tightly.
"It'll be wonderful." He told her, "Now, go get dressed." She rolled her eyes and got out of the bed.
"I'm not dressing up." She warned him, "I don't like high-heels."
"That's fine. I like you dressed down." He called and she picked up his trousers, chucking them at him. He caught them with a laugh and she had to suppress the grin threatening to break free. Cheeky bloody Time Lords. She quickly slipped her dress on, just in case she met someone in the corridor. She never did know when she'd jump and apart from the one time she'd just climbed out of the shower she'd been very lucky in that regard. Thankfully she'd still been in the TARDIS when she laughed, she was more often than not, so she'd run back to her room and hadn't come across anyone.
"Behave while I go get changed." She warned him playfully and he moved to get out of bed, "Alone." He pouted, falling back onto the bed and crossing his arms like a child, "Don't you have to get a picnic together anyway?"
~0~0~0~
The Doctor held the wicker basket in one hand, his other arm linked with Danni's as they walked across the blue grass towards a dark green tree just in the distance. He was right, the view was simply stunning. The planet below swirled with gasses, it's atmosphere gleaming in the light of it's closest star. It was warmer than she had been expecting it to be, so she had taken off her hoodie and tied it around her waist. She'd gone with a pair of black skinny jeans and a blue off-the-shoulder t-shirt, comfy but pretty. The Doctor was still in tweed, but she didn't want him any other way. He really had gone all out when he'd prepared the picnic, she thought as he chucked down a red tartan blanket, anchoring it on one side with the basket. He sat down, pulling her up against him so she was resting on his stomach. He reached into the basket and pulled out a small white tub.
"Ice cream?" She asked and he nodded, handing it to her.
"Vanilla." He confirmed, pulling out two spoons and handing her one. The pair began lazily munching on the frozen desert as they watched the planet below.
"Is any of this solar system inhabited?" She asked casually, spotting the planets off into the distance.
"No." He promised, "There's only this moon that has an appropriate atmosphere, it's just the two of us." He felt her relax slightly and his chest ached for her. She was so scared of other people. Well, apart from children if he remembered their trip to Solas a Aois correctly. That had been back with Donna, and before everything had gone wrong she'd enjoyed playing with the children on the beach there, "Do you want to talk about it?" She frowned, taking another bite of ice cream.
"Talk about what?" She asked, confused.
"Midnight." He replied and she frowned, shoving the spoon into the top of the ice cream quite violently.
"What do you think?" She snapped, "Would you want to talk about it?"
"It might help." He pointed out and she sat up straight, angry that he'd even brought it up.
"No it won't." She replied bluntly, "I can't think about anything I'd want to talk about less right now than that stupid fucking planet filled with idiotic, vile, unstable apes!" She jumped off the blanket, the venom in her voice startling him slightly, "I'm going back to the TARDIS." He scrambled up after her as she stormed towards the blue box, grabbing her arm.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." He told her, "You don't have to talk about it, just sit down." She shook her head, "Please, Danni." She sighed, slightly annoyed.
"You know," She started walking towards the blanket again, "I give into you way too easy." He smiled gratefully, jumping in front of her and sitting down first.
"You say that all the time." He retorted and pulled her down onto his lap.
"It's because it's true." She replied and he placed a kiss on her lips, "So, we're completely on our own?" She asked, bringing him back to their previous conversation.
"Yes." He reassured her, "The nearest person is a whole solar system away. It's just you and me."
"Good." She nodded, "No one to interrupt us." She pressed her lips against his, surprising him at first as she fought to get him to kiss back. He smirked against her mouth, his hands sliding underneath her shirt.
"Again?" He teased with a chuckle and she nodded, pushing him back onto blanket. He ran a cool finger up her spine, causing her to gasp and shiver as her skin tingled. He removed his hands to her displeasure, placing them above his head on the ground, closing his eyes, "I don't know, I'm not really in the mood..."
"Liar." She muttered back, kissing down his jaw line. Her fingers danced on his buttons, pushing his shirt open, "Touch me, please." He opened one eye, cocking one eyebrow arrogantly.
"Make me."
~0~0~0~
Danni looked over at the Doctor as she laid next to him on the blanket, the silly grin on his face making her smile in reply. His shirt was still undone, his bowtie tucked safely in the top pocket. Her stomach ached for the first time in a while and she knew it was because she felt safe and secure. Because it was just the two of them and nothing unexpected could happen.
"I think I'm going to have some ice cream." She declared, sitting up and grabbing the tub out of the box, "Hey, this is still cold."
"Of course it is." He replied, lying on his side and propping himself up on his elbow, "The basket keeps the food cool."
"Of course it does." She replied sarcastically, "If you're going to be mean, no ice cream for you." She dug straight in, eating the first bite quickly.
"Slow down, you need to save some." he replied and she frowned, spoon still in her mouth.
"Why?" She asked and he smiled guiltily.
"I may have invited someone to come here." He admitted and her eyes widened as she slowly lowered the spoon.
"What?" She bit out.
"It'll be fine, it's someone you want to come." He quickly reassured her, seeing her mind race through the possibilities and her fists clenched.
"It's River, isn't it?" She asked, "You've brought River here." He shook his head.
"No..."
"Is it not enough you marry her?" She raged, "You're going to rub her and your little baby girl in my face? I can't believe you!" She scrambled up, "You two enjoy your picnic, I hope you choke!" She ran off before he could stop her. He chased her into the TARDIS where she was heading into the hallways. She couldn't believe him, inviting River to their picnic, making it out like it was for her and really it was just a chance to see the bloody archaeologist again. She opened a door to see his room and she growled, slamming the door shut and storming off to find her own room.
"Danni!" She heard him shout but she didn't reply, she never wanted to see him again. She could kill the bastard, she really could! She opened another door to be shown the Doctor's room again. She screamed and slammed it shut with all her strength.
"Stop doing that!" She shouted furiously at the TARDIS before storming off once more. Stupid bloody Time Lord, using her for sex then running off with River to playground just like the one she'd seen them in. She should show him exactly what his actions would do. They were hard to kill, but as long as she killed him again before regeneration set in he wouldn't come back to life again.
Then Silence will fall.
She gasped, skidding to a stop in front of the same door again. Where the hell had that come from? She didn't want to kill him, she wanted him safe and sound and happy. She closed her eyes, listening to the drumming pounding. It was that noise, that bloody pounding in her skull. It wanted her to hurt the Doctor, and she was letting it drive her to it. The Doctor wouldn't have invited River, that's her own paranoia because of where she'd been before this point, seeing them together had burnt itself into her mind and she couldn't let it go. She turned slowly on the spot to be met with the image of a Silent stood proudly, arm outstretched.
"You will kill the Doctor." It breathlessly declared and she shook her head, backing away from it in terror.
"No, no I won't." She stuttered, for the first time without conviction or belief. Maybe she would, maybe it would actually take over her and she would hurt him. She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. She couldn't, she wouldn't.
"You will lead him to Melody Pond, then you will kill him."
"Theta!" She screamed, reaching behind her and groping for the door handle, "Theta, please!" She sobbed, "Help me, please!" She found the handle but it wouldn't open. She shook it, refusing to move her gaze off the creature who didn't need to attack her to frighten her, "Theta, please help me!" The door opened unexpectedly and she stumbled backwards, landing on the floor with a hard smash of her tail bone and she cried out in pain, "Theta!" She screamed again, shaking uncontrollably. Arms wrapped around her and she struggled against them, more Silents appearing in her vision, stepping out of the shadows towards her, each one as quiet at their name but staring her down menacingly, "Let me go, please let me go!" She struggled harder, her tears blurring her vision, "Please, Theta help me!" Then her world went black and she fell unconscious.
The Doctor held her tighter as he managed to put her to sleep, ending whatever delusion she had fallen into. He should have known the picnic was a bad idea, he thought as he held her closer. He'd entered their bedroom to see if she was there and the door had slammed shut behind him. Then he'd heard her screaming for him, the terror in her voice almost tangible and he'd rushed to the door to save her from whatever was happening outside. He'd not been able to open the door and it took him a moment in his panic-filled haze to realise it was because they were fighting against each other. He'd let her open it and she stumbled into his arms, thrashing out against him as she fought to get away from the empty corridor she was stood in. She could barely tell where she was and she didn't know he was there with her, his only choice had been to put her to sleep to calm her down. Jenny, the guest he'd invited to the picnic, stood behind him, eyes wide in shock at the ginger woman's display. She knelt down next to him, helping him move Danni to the bed, pulling the cover back so he could lay her underneath.
"What was that?" She asked, worried for the girl who was murmuring about River in her hysterical sleep.
"She sees things." He explained with a thick voice, "It was too soon, I shouldn't have brought you yet. I just thought you would help her get used to being around people again, she loves you so much." She'd only just come from Midnight, and she'd been obsessed with River since she'd landed. He wished she'd just told him what she'd seen, he could have helped. Although, if this was his attempt to help maybe she was right to keep quiet. He wasn't doing her any favours. His shaky hand brushed against her forehead, feeling her burning up, "What do I do?" Jenny didn't know what to say, so she leant her head against her father's shoulder, letting him hug her tightly as they watched Danni rest.