Fic: When the Roads Meet 2/2 (Rated PG)
AN: This chapter/part was written to fill the doctor prompt in Leverageland's “A Charming Round of Bingo!” See Part 1 for all other disclaimers and story notes!!!
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"The woman you know as Sophie Devereaux does not exist.”
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Somehow in the moments that followed the revelation that Sophie Devereaux was just a character this alien woman with her face had made up, the conversation had moved to inside the blue box. If it were under any other circumstances like a dream, Nate might be amazed the box was bigger on the inside than out. But given he was standing on the opposite side of a cavernous room while the two discussed the situation which may result in him losing woman he loves, its impossible size meant very little to him right at that moment.
How ironic he would admit to himself that he loves Sophie standing in the middle of an alien's spaceship after he's been told she doesn't really exist.
The Doctor stood with staring at the human across the room for a long time, his arms crossed as gave careful consideration to what he was about to ask his old friend. “Do you love him, Romana?” There was no judgment in the Doctor's voice, only curiosity.
Her gaze had shifted over to Nate too, she hesitated, trying to make everything that had happened she became the woman named Sophie Devereaux. She searched through all the memories she had of this man called Nate Ford several times and able to draw only one conclusion each time. Her voice a whisper when she answered, “Yes, I do.” Nate's eyes met hers in that moment, “I cannot seem to separate what I felt for him as Sophie Devereaux from who I was as Romanadvoratrelundar, Lord President of Gallifrey.”
“I understand.”
His answer surprised her. “How can you understand? You've always been as logical and as much of a scientist as I have! I know a part of you has always loved the human race but that's an entirely different thing from being in love with someone. So how can you understand I've fallen in love with a human man? What happened since the last time we met?”
The Doctor faced her, “Let me show you?” When Romana gave her consent by nodding, he touched the side of her face.
He showed her a jumble of memory images of everything that had happened since the last time they'd seen one another, and while it might take her awhile to make sense of it all two memories managed to stand out above the rest. Romana opened her eyes and commented, “This River Song woman is a very confusing non-linear puzzle. How do you make sense of your encounters with her?”
“To be honest, I haven't made much of any sense where River is concerned.”
“I can understand why,” she said and walked off from him a little. “Doctor, your Rose Tyler...” He had shown her everything that had happened concerning the young Earth woman, held nothing back. “For you, she is.... what Nate Ford seems to be for me under these circumstances.”
“Do you wish to resume your Sophie Devereaux persona and stay here?” the Doctor asked.
“Before I answer that question, I want to ask you are we truly the only two survivors from the last battle of the war?”
“Well if you don't count the Master-”
“I thought I saw him in your memories. He took over the Earth for a year?”
The Doctor nodded, “Yes, a year that never was when the paradox machine he made out of the TARDIS was destroyed. But as I said if you don't count him then we two are the only survivors left of the Time Lords.”
Looking once more in Nate's direction, “I should go with you then...”
“Romana-”
She held up her hand, “No, if we are truly the last of our race I am both honor and duty bound to help you keep the legacy of the Time Lords alive for as long as I am alive.”
“Not that I am a shining example of always carrying out one's duties...” He paused when he noticed the amuse look she was giving him, “But even if I were, in this instance I would say let but honor and duties be blasted into space dust! Romana, you saw everything that happened with Rose, how I lost her what I believed was forever, and when I got her back. You saw every one of the regrets I have where she's concerned, and it's all because I was trying to uphold some stupid principles the Time Lords held dear because they were dead. But they're gone and we can't bring them back nor can we change what happened by adhering to everything they did. Don't let this man become your own set of regrets you can't change.”
She thought about his words carefully and smile, “How ironic for years I did not understand the love between Andred and Leela yet I now find myself in love with a human man who has been far more broken by the loss of his son than two Time Lords through the loss of everything they held dear. Doctor, he won't survive the loss of Sophie. The death of his son nearly destroyed Nate, and losing Sophie too would send him over the edge.”
“You want to stay then?”
“Yes.”
With a grin that rivaled the one he could give when she first knew him, Romana watched as the Doctor began to flitter about the room flipping switches here and there until the needed headgear lowered from the ceiling. He looked at her, the smile suddenly gone, “I am very sorry, Romana, but the process is still rather painful.”
She nodded, “I understand.”
While she slipped on the headgear, the Doctor approached Nate. “I think you'll probably want to wait outside now, Mr. Ford.”
“Why? What's going on?” Nate asked.
“Romana has decided to undergo the transformation that will make her Sophie Deverueax once more.”
“Transformation? What does that mean?”
“What it means is that her physiology and memories as a Time Lord will be altered to that match that of Sophie Devereaux. After it is over with she will be the woman you knew before all this happened and she won't remember seeing me again.”
“All right why do you want me to wait outside then?” Nate's voice was full of suspicion. “What are you going to do to her exactly?
“Mr. Ford, the reason I believe you should wait outside is because this process is very painful and is rather unpleasant to watch someone undergo."
“That might be but I'm staying right here.”
“Mr. Ford-” The Doctor jumped slightly but stopped speaking when Romana put her hand on his shoulder as neither had noticed she'd left the headgear.
In a voice that resembled Sophie's more than it had in the last hour or so, she said, “He's right... Nate. You should wait outside the TARDIS as this isn't a memory you should have to carry around.” He started to protest and she stopped whatever he was going to say by kissing him. “Please, I know you have enough of a burden of painful memories to carry around. I can't bear the thought I'll add one more to that burden.” She glanced at the Doctor. “You can trust him as he is one of my oldest friends in the universe. Please go, now.”
It was obvious Nate was still very hesitant to leave but he finally nodded, “All right, I'll wait outside.” Before he left though he gave the Doctor one of his most threatening looks and said, “I'm trusting you to take care of her.”
“I will. I promise you.” He locked the TARDIS door once Nate was outside and turned to Romana with a sigh. “Let's get this over with then, hmm?”
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It felt like the door to the blue box had been closed forever when I finally opened and the Doctor emerged with an unconscious Sophie in his arms. He laid her down on the floor just outside the door as Nate hurried to her side.
“Is she okay?” he asked.
The Doctor nodded, “She's fine as she can be under these circumstances. I programmed it to where she'll sleep until I leave so we could talk.”
Nate waited to hear what the Time Lord had to say.
The Doctor pulled out a replica of the pocketwatch that had started everything and handed it over to the man. “Whenever a Time Lord undergoes this process, everything we are, our essence if you will, is stored in a pocketwatch such as this one. This is done usually for safekeeping until it is time for us to remember who we really are and the watch is opened. Although you'll never want to open the watch in this case, I still must give it to you and since you have someone in your.... family who has a talented for lifting things I suggest you find somewhere she won't ever know about to keep it in. It has to be kept closed this time because I won't be able to change Romana back into Sophie for a third time.”
Nate took the pocketwatch, and began thinking about where it could be hidden from Parker where she'd never find it. “Anything else?” he asked.
“Yes, there are two more things we need to talk about. First, is what you should tell her when she wakes up and wants to know what happened.” The scenario he gave Nate was solid and plausible enough that the mastermind didn't see any problems with it. Then the Doctor came to the last thing he needed to say to the man before him. “Do you love her? Sophie I mean? Do you love her?”
“I'm not sure that's any of your business!” Nate shot back.
“Oh I think it is my business, Mr. Ford, because if you don't love her I'll take that watch back from you now and let her become Romana again. And don't make the mistake of thinking I won't either.”
The look on the Time Lord's face told Nate he meant what he said, and finally he nodded. “Yes... yes, I love her.”
“You had better make sure she knows it then. And you'd better make certain that you give her the life she's staying behind to have with you, Nathan Ford.”
Nate nodded, “I will.”
He returned to his time machine, stopping at the door, and look back at Nate he said, “There's one more thing you need to know. I don't know how Romana was able to so fully suppress them but at some point in the future, she may start having flashes of memories from her life on Gallifrey, and as a Time Lord. They'll probably present themselves as very vivid or outlandish dreams.”
“Is there anything I should do if she does start to remember?”
“Yes, treat any dreams she talks about as just that, dreams. Don't act as though they're anything extraordinary other than a very vivid dream.” He didn't give Nate a chance to say anything else but disappeared inside the TARDIS, and the same loud grinding noise was heard a few seconds later as it vanished.
As predicted, Sophie began to moan and her eyes opened the moment it was gone. “What happened? Why do I have such a bloody awful headache?”
Without hesitation Nate told her the story that he had agreed upon with the Doctor, and she believed him.