Checkmate (Doctor Who fanfiction)

Tying Up Loose Ends

The Doctor looked like he was ready to pass out. He fell against a wall, and the tension in the room began to rise. Amy stepped forward.

"Doctor it's okay! You did it, you stopped the bomb!" But I knew he was a marathon away from okay. "Doctor?" She said when he didn't answer her.

"They gave me a choice... and they knew I'd choose the earth," he said. "The Daleks... have won. They've beat me, they won."

"But you saved. The. Earth. Not too shabby, is it?" He looked around the room, still looking deflated. Everyone gave him expecting or pitying stares. Then his eyes landed on me.

The oddest thing happened. A shiver ran down my spine, and my breathing threatened to speed up. I forced myself under control and folded my arms, raising my eyebrows at him, smirking a little like his anger was amusing to me. In all honesty, it was...

"Is it?" She repeated. His eyes locked with mine, and only at that point did I realize he'd been scanning my body, not my eyes. The fuzzy feeling vanished and I felt anger.

"No," he said, looking back at Amy. "Not too shabby."

Everyone laughed. "Very well, my old friend. Here, have a cigar," Winston said, holding out an unused cigar to The Doctor, who waved it away quickly.

"No," he said, barely above his breath.

He looked over at me again, but my anger flared when he wasn't looking at my face. I snapped my fingers above my head, giving him a warning glare. Whatever everyone else thought I meant at that moment, I clearly got my real message across to him.

Eyes front, soldier.

There was no man in the universe who wasn't going to treat me like correctly, except for Jeff. I cringed at the thought of him, so I tried to avert my mind. Even though I looked away, out of the corner of my eye, I saw The Doctor nod at me.

Later:

Amy and I stood in the war room again.

"Ruby, why are you still mad at The Doctor?" She asked. I was quiet. She started at me for a moment, before looking over at Bree from across the room. "Is she alright?" She asked, turning to Winston.

"Hm?"

"She looks very upset..." Amy answered. I'd been rather worried about her too, to be honest. The poor thing looked like she was positively drowning in grief.

"Oh," Winston said soberly. "Miss Bree. A young man didn't make it, I'm afraid. Shot down over the channel. Just got word."

"That's terrible,"Any said quietly. After a moment she looked up. "Where's The Doctor?"

"Tying up loose ends!" He said, appearing from around the corner. "I've disposed of all the alien tech Bracewell put in."

"Won't you reconsider, Doctor? Those machines could win me the war in twenty four hours!"

"Exactly," he answered.

"But why not, why can't we put an end to all this suffering?"

"Ah, it doesn't work like that." He picked up a cup of tea.

"Stay with us. Help us fight!" Winston said. "The world needs you!"

"No, the world doesn't need me," The Doctor said.

I agree.

"No?" Winston said, looking shocked.

"The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill," he said, smiling. They both laughed, and hugged.

"Miss Pond," he said, smiling at her, because I was obviously chopped liver and not worth saying goodbye to. Meh, his loss.

"It's- it's been amazing meeting you," she said.

"I'm sure it has," he laughed. "KBO," he said. As he walked away, I folded my arms.

"Oi, Churchill!" He turned around and I held out my hand. "I'd very much like to get home. Tardis key. The one you just took from The Doctor."

The Doctor nearly choked on his tea, setting down the cup and grabbing at his jacket, looking for the key. Winston walked over, laughing.

He laughed. "Oh, she's good, Doctor! Sharp as a pin! Almost as sharp as me." He handed me the key and walked away.

The Doctor held out his hand without looking at me with a warm smirk on his face. He learns fast. I handed him the key and he put it in his jacket.

We were soon back to the Tardis after a happy talk with Edwin.

"So, you've got enemies, then," Amy was saying.

"Everyone's got enemies," he said casually.

"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell. You've got, like, you know, arch-enemies." He leaned back against one of the doors, and Amy did the same on the other, so I plopped down on the ground, toying with my hair that was let down in waves Amy had done. She always does my hair, since I couldn't style a single strand of it for my life. Well, unless a ponytail counts.

"S'pose so," he said.

"And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time being daft and fixing stuff. But no. It's dangerous."

"Yep," he said. "Is that a problem?"

She looked over at him. "We're still here, aren't we?" He laughed a little. She looked at him, obviously concerned.

"You're worried about the Daleks." He stared off into space.

"I'm always worried about the Daleks."

"It'll take time, won't it, I mean, there aren't many of them, they'll have to build themselves up."

"It isn't that. It's something else. Something we've forgotten, of rather, you have."

"Me?" She asked in obvious surprise.

"You didn't know them. You'd never seen them before. Either of you. And you should have done. You should've done." He unlocked the doors and let her in, then walked over to me to offer me his hand that I promptly refused, getting to my feet by myself as usual. He still opened the door for me though.

I stepped in and ran to the console.

"Now I want to see a planet." Amy said. He smiled.

"Then a planet it is," he said, smiling. "But first, a museum." He yanked a lever and we took off into the time vortex again. I couldn't help but think about how much I'd talked today. Maybe... maybe I was getting bolder.

But The Doctor was officially on my hit list now. I was going to make him feel the pain he'd made me feel so much for fourteen years. I would make him hate me. Just as much as I hated him. But here's the golden part: I'll do it without speaking any more then I usually do.

Oh, you clever, clever boy, I thought as I watched him run around the console. You underestimated just who you messed with.

I'm sorry, I know I've been slow with the updates, don't kill me!! I'll try to stay more on top of things. I'm just REALLY busy lately.

What'd you think? So now we know that Ruby isn't keen on forgiving him... what do you think she's going to do to make him hate her? Any theories? I'd love to hear them!

8 votes for the next chapter!

Read on, Awkward Ferrets!!

~TheLivingParadox