(Untitled)

[thedoctorwho]

Hey, bar. Have a Doctor. He's over by the Window, ignoring a cup of tea and staring out at the destruction.

It's been a trying couple of days for him, and he's oddly glad to be back someplace familiar.

Company would not go amiss.

[ooc: 10:35 EST -- Holy crap, guys! I love you all, but I am sooo crashing now. Will pick up all tags tomorrow!]

Comments

[his_sarah_jane]

Sarah Jane looks hesitant as she approaches him. She's not sure if she ought to be, considering everything previously said. But she was in the bar anyway, trying to escape chaos back home to work on her article.

So, with laptop under her arm, she walks over. She stops, a few feet in front of him and waves. Quietly, "Hello, Doctor."

[thedoctorwho]

It takes a second to register, his mind is so far away. Finally, he turns and gives her a weak smile. "Hello, Sarah Jane."

[his_sarah_jane]

"I could go," she offers immediately. Although the look on her face says she really doesn't want to. Sarah places a hand on her stomach; it's become a comforting habit. "If I'm bothering you. The headaches and the like. I... oh, I just wanted to say hello."

[thedoctorwho]

"I'll be fine. The past couple of days have been... rough."

[his_sarah_jane]

She nods, taking a seat next to him.

"What happened?"

[thedoctorwho]

"Fought the devil," he says simply, turning back to the Window.

A slight pause, and then he continues, "That's an oversimplification. I don't know what it was, only what it claimed to be, but that was enough."

[his_sarah_jane]

"Quite the oversimplification," Sarah answers sharply and then softens her tone. Now probably isn't the time for a lesson on semantics. Smiling warmly at him, she places a hand on top of his.

"You've faced lots of rather impossible creatures and situations and always came out on top, Doctor. What made this one so different?"

Beat.

"What did it say?"

[thedoctorwho]

He doesn't seem to acknowledge her touch; he just continues in that same dull, almost haunted tone. "It claimed to be the source of all the fear and mythos surrounding the personification of evil. Abbadon, Satan, Q'all'chik... all of them. The Beast from before the universe, before Time."

[his_sarah_jane]

Sarah shakes her head as she gives his hand a squeeze. She heard him, but she isn't sure if she understands it. More than that, she despises the look she sees on his face.

"How is that even possible?"

[thedoctorwho]

"It's not," he finally says with a sniff, patting her hand atop his. "It played on our fears and our doubts. Tried to use it to manipulate us."

[his_sarah_jane]

That she does understand. "Then why are you acting to the contrary?"

[thedoctorwho]

"It got inside my mind like my shields weren't there at all. And it had a language that predates anything in the TARDIS databanks. It couldn't have been what it claimed to be, but whatever it was, it was beyond anything the Time Lords ever knew."

[his_sarah_jane]

"Oh Doctor," she says softly, this time leaning forward to give him a small hug. "At least you stopped it and we know of it now."

Pause.

"You did stop it, right?"

[thedoctorwho]

He stiffens slightly when she hugs him, a sign that all is still not well between them yet.

"More than stopped it," is all he says.

[his_sarah_jane]

The moment she feels him stiffen, Sarah pulls away and tries to make herself as small as she can in her own chair. She can't pull her legs up to her chest anymore, so she settles for tucking them underneath.

Blinking back tears, she looks downward. Her hand goes on her stomach and she pretends to busy herself with looking after her child. What was she thinking, approaching him this soon? He talked, true, but that isn't enough for Sarah. And right now, with the way he reacted, Sarah can't help but feel that nothing will ever be right between them again. It's a rather suffocating sort of hurt.

[thedoctorwho]

The Doctor is more or less oblivious to her discomfort. Or maybe it's just that some small part of him feels that since she did approach him, whatever she might feel is her responsibility. Either way, he's a little too wrapped up in himself to pay much attention.