Red ⋆ Doctor Who

Chapter Twelve

"Doctor, that was ages ago!" Cherry points out, standing up and pacing along the floor in front of him. She frustratedly runs her hands through her hair before turning to him, eyes welling with tears. "How could you not tell me?"

"Charlotte-"

"I thought I was going crazy or something. All those weird memories coming back, it was awful and scary," Cherry blurts out, her voice raising despite how small and childish she feels. "If you had told me-"

"I needed you to remember on your own, Charlotte," the Doctor stands up, taking her hands with his to stop her pacing. He tugs on them, urging her to look up at him. "I was trying to figure out why you couldn't remember."

"I told you, Doctor! I used to go to therapy, and they said it was normal that I didn't remember it, that it was from the trauma..."

"No, Charlotte, that's not why you don't remember," the Doctor tells her, shaking his head.

"You still should've said... you were there the night my parents went missing. What happened to them?" Cherry demands. The Doctor sighs, screwing up his face and then pressing their foreheads together.

"You know what happened, Charlotte," the Doctor whispers. "You need to remember yourself. Think about it, really think about it. The crack in your wall, the statue in the park..."

"What does that have to do with anything? It was just a stupid statue..." Cherry trails off as she remembers the park opposite her childhood home. Her eyes widen fearfully, and she gasps, stumbling back away from the Doctor, ripping her hands out of his grip. "That's not possible," she utters, shaking her head because the statue in the park, in the shape of an angel, was not meant to be there. Now that Cherry takes a moment to properly think about it, she only saw the statue there once. On the night, her parents went missing. "How could I forget that?"

"The Angels were absorbed by the crack," the Doctor tells her. "I didn't realise that it would erase them from time until the Byzantium. That's why you don't remember them... and I assume you forgot about everything else on that day because of the effect it had on your mind."

"So, they're dead then? My parents," Cherry asks, eyebrows raised, and the Doctor hesitates for a moment.

"Charlotte, I'm sorry. They were displaced in time," the Doctor informs her, and she does react at first. "There was nothing I could do. And I had no idea where the Angel sent them..."

"It's fine," Cherry shakes her head, her hands trembling and her eyes welling with tears that she fails to blink away. "It's been fifteen years... I assumed they were dead, anyway. It's fine."

"It's okay if you're upset," the Doctor says softly, watching her closely as she hides her shaking hands behind her back. "They were your parents."

"I know," Cherry nods, but she pushes any emotions stirring within her away, she can be upset later, but now they need to try and save Isabella for Guido and figure out what is happening within the Calvierri school. "But we need to go to the school. To save Isabella. My feelings aren't important right now."

A small smile plays on the Doctor's lips as he admires her selflessness, though he does not agree that her feelings are unimportant. In fact, her feelings are one of the most pressing concerns. He's seen the way she looks at him when he upsets her, and it aches in his chest, in his hearts. The way she looks up at him with wide, teary eyes. Or how she hides her trembling hands behind her back. He doesn't want her to turn away from him again, ignoring his words, unable to face the upset he's caused. It's strange that he cares so much for her feelings, even more than he does for Amy's, but he tells himself it's from the guilt of not saving her parents. "Is that everything?" He asks her, hoping he hasn't done anything more to disappoint her. She deliberates for a moment and then sighs.