ignite ➝ Doctor Who¹

XXVII

"No, no, no. I was just, I was, I was calibrating."
— The Doctor, Rise of the Cybermen

The Doctor slid along the railings to her as she sat in the jump seat. Penelope smiled softly, tucking away the letter in her coat pocket that always hung on the jump seat.

"Are you okay?" She continued to smile, which sort of said it all. He sighed and took her hands, rubbing small circles against her knuckles, hoping to help in some way. But he was put off from the lack of a ring on her hand, quickly reaching to his pocket to grab it when she sighs. She turned the chair so she was sitting directly in front of him, the man nearly standing between her legs.

"I think I would've enjoyed the slow life with you Doctor." He started to move again, grasping the ring tightly, feeling more now than he did the first time he put this on her hand. They both watched their hands in silence as the ring seemed to fit perfectly on her finger again. A small smile broke through, a real one this time.

"Maybe one day Penelope." He cradled her face with his hands and kissed the top of her head. She blushed slowly, and smiled wider. Oh how she had missed this. He hugged her close, pressing another soft kiss to her temple, smiling into her hair.

It had been a long time since he had felt so deeply for another person, especially a human. He knew that she would age and wither long before him, but he couldn't help himself. There was something about her that was so.. alive.

And Penelope?

How could she resist? He pulled her from what she can now see was a dull life. She wished nothing more than to stay with him, together, for as long as she possibly could. She could be 93 and teetering on death's door, but she would still agree to fly off into the stars and run from monsters. There isn't a single other alien she would've wanted to pull her away from the planet.

"Rose and Mickey will be back soon. If the TARDIS has kept her hallways the same." She spoke into his shoulder, it was distant as it buzzed through him. But from the way she held onto him, it was clear she didn't want to let go.

"She keep them away for as long as we need." The lights flashed around them before settling on a dimmer light. Penelope laughed softly, breathing him in, trying to memorise what she had missed over the 5 years.

"Yes but I think they'd realise eventually Doctor." He hummed in agreement, but neither of them moved, still clinging to the other as if they'd disappear. Penelope bunched the fabric of his jacket in her hands, pulling him even closer.

"Let them realise." She laughed into his shoulder again, and his grip tightened.

"We have stars to see Doctor." The time rotor suddenly blew up beside them, the Doctor quickly turning and covering her. Sparks rained down on them and the TARDIS rocked violently.

Rose and Mickey raced into the room, panicked. They started to shout over at the Doctor, which went ignored as he checked over Penelope. There was constant reassurance until she pushed him away to check what happened. Rose struggled up the stairs as Mickey wandered over and helped Penelope out of the chair.

"Doctor, what the hell happened." He didn't answer Rose, staring at the screen in disbelief.

"The time vortex is gone. That's impossible. It's just gone." He turned to his companions, panicked as he realised he was too far to help Penelope. "Brace yourselves! We're going to crash!"

Penelope gets thrown to the floor next to Mickey. She covered her head and did brace herself, unlike Mickey who did hit the floor hard as anything. Gas masks fell from somewhere in the ceiling and hung above them. Everything goes dark and Penelope can vaguely hear the Doctor's voice from the other side of the console.

Before she knew it, he was carefully helping her up, checking her over once again. He spoke quietly to her, "are you okay?"

"Yes, are you?" He nods and carefully guides her to the jump seat again, motioning for her to stay as he checks on Rose and Mickey. Rose rubs her head as the Doctor races around the console again.

"What happened?" The Doctor swallowed thickly, not really believing it himself.

"She's dead. The Tardis is dead." Penelope shook away her headache, standing quickly. He looked over at her sadly. She made her way over to him, hoping to provide some sort of comfort.

"You can fix it?" Penelope reached out for his hand and he took it, but instead he pulled her close, wrapping his hands around her and resting his chin on her head. Comfortable, if not a little surprised, she held onto him tight, knowing that, if it were her, she would need to be grounded.

"There's nothing to fix. She's perished. The last Tardis in the universe. Extinct." She could hear the pain in voice as it reverberated against her. All she could do was be there, as he had done for her with her mother. Rose refused to give up.

"We can get help, yeah?"

"Where from?"

"Well, we've landed. We've got to be somewhere."

"We fell out of the vortex, through the void, into nothingness. We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension." Penelope watched closely from the Doctor's arms as Mickey opened the doors. She wondered what might await them outside, outside the void. Mickey scoffed, looking back at them.

"Otherwise known as London."