'I love you, it's ruining my life' - Taylor Swift
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"Your world would be much better off if you lost me."
"Don't say things like that. What difference does it even make? Either way, I'm travelling with you, and I'm in danger. One way we'll both just...
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The Doctor leaves Cherry's house in the early hours of the morning, when the sunlight beams through the curtains they didn't close, and Cherry rests soundly in her bed. He considered waking her up, but he couldn't bear the thought of saying goodbye to her and he can tell by the dark circles under her eyes that she definitely needs to catch up on her sleep. He crouches down at the side of the bed once he has dressed properly and retrieved his Stetson from the living room. She doesn't stir at all, deep in sleep as the Doctor takes her hand and raises it to his lips, kissing each of her fingers.
"I-" he cuts himself off, screwing his face up. He can't say it. He can't admit it. "I'm sorry. Oh, Charlotte Pond, I will miss you. We had the most fun. You meant the world to me and I'm so sorry for everything I've done to you."
It takes everything in him to drop her hand and turn away from her, walking out of the door and down the stairs, past the bigger on the inside box filled with enough supplements to restore her cartilage and strengthen her bones for thousands of years which he is leaving with her and he quietly pulls the front door closed behind him. He pauses at the end of the path in the front garden, fists balled up at his sides and jaw tense as he fights away tears. No, he's not going to the lake now. He wants to know why he has to die. Why he has to be taken away from Cherry. Why Melody has to spend the rest of her life in prison.
He marches over to the Tardis, pulling down the dematerialisation lever, flying straight into a destroyed Dalek ship. He finds exactly what he is looking for down the first, dimly lit corridor, and he cannot help but let his anger and disgust for the horrible aliens get the better of him as he makes his way through the shadows. "Imagine you were dying. Imagine you were afraid and a long way from home and in terrible pain. Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, you looked up and saw the face of the devil himself. Hello, Dalek."
He grins as the injured Dalek begins to panic, its weapons twitching helplessly and robotic voice cracking. "EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! WEAPON SYSTEM DISABLED. EMERGENCY!"
It carries on squealing in a high-pitched voice as the Doctor uses the screwdriver to tear its head off and expose the data core within it. He scans the spherical core, downloading information onto the sonic. "Hush, now. I need some information from your data core. Everything the Daleks know about the Silence."
He takes it back to the Tardis, along with the Daleks eyestalk and uploads the information so he can read it on the scanner which leads him to his next destination, the Docks of Calisto B. He finds his way to a dingy, backstreet bar, keeping out of the way of hooded figures as he approaches the crimson red alien working the bar. "Gideon Vandaleur. Get him. Now."
"Who says he's here?" The barman says in a gruff voice and the Doctor raised his eyebrows before dropping the heavy, dismembered eyestalk onto the bar. He sends the wide-eyed barman a rather smug smile, and waits patiently at a table, leafing through a copy of 'Knitting for girls' which has some wonderful scarf patterns. He doesn't look up from the magazine until a man in a cloak approaches, sitting down opposite him.
