Ellie was seated in the dining room, in front of her a plate piled high with vegetables and steak. Both things she'd seriously missed in the past year. Despite everything, she rather enjoyed eating her fill. Again, something she hadn't much of a chance to do since the invasion
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Thus, juggling a rather hefty slab of chocolate cake and a glass of milk, the Doctor looked for a place to sit. Actually, since the enormous banquet hall was mostly empty, he was looking for someone to sit with.
"Hello there?" he said cheerily to the young lady at the table. "Just in for a snack and I do hate to sit alone. May I join you?"
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"I..." I'm sorry that you had to suffer sounded patronizing, even though he meant it with both his hearts. He swallowed before continuing. "I'm very sorry for your loss. And I'm also sorry if speaking about this is unsettling you," he said quietly. While he thought it healthy for the young lady to voice her experiences aloud, he wasn't sure that a relative stranger was the best person for the job, at least not at the moment. "I don't mean to pry."
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She took a large mouthful of water, "when we were in New Zealand...my therapist told me I should talk about all my experiences." Another pause, "Instead I wrote them all down and hid them in various places. Some I left with her, others are still in Hell, and a few in the attic at my grandmothers." The point to this? "When I arrived here, every scrap of paper was on my bed. In the correct order." That had scared her more than the rest of her things that had arrived here. "I...you could read them if you want, after I write down what happened after we blew up the petrol station. I'm not the best writer but it's all true." This was a big step for Ellie, but she felt she could trust the man.
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"Who was Robyn?" he asked gently, curious despite himself. "I understand if you don't wish to answer."
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She shut her eyes and drew her legs up to her chin, it hurt to talk about it...but she knew she needed to. "The day before Homer and I were to be shot, we were allowed to meet our friends one last time. The Kiwi's began to bomb nearby, and the area we were in...it fell apart. We ran but Major Harvey came after us. He was going to shoot us all, then and there. Robyn...she'd somehow found a grenade...one moment she was there, looking at me..." A stray tear in Ellie's eyes and she ignored it. She thought they'd all dried up well before now. "The next, she'd just disappeared."
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"I'm so, so sorry, Ellie. I wish that-" He broke off with a bitter little laugh. "I fear that I shall never understand humans, sometimes. Such capacity for cruelty and self-sacrifice, all within the same species..." With his free hand, he dug into his capacious coat pocket and produced a clean white handkerchief, offering it to Ellie with a small smile, never noticing the tear tracing a path down his own pale face.
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It was only when she offered it back to him that something he'd said clicked. "A-are you saying you're not human?" A frown on her face.
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"I'm afraid that I'm not, Ellie. Human, that is," he said gently, not releasing her hand. "I come from a planet called Gallifrey, much closer to the galactic centre than Earth. My people are called Time Lords." He paused, watching her reaction carefully.
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"I'm a traveler by vocation, Ellie. A professional tourist, you might say. I careen across the entire universe and stop at any place or time that strikes my fancy. I would never experiment on anyone, of any species! And I don't abduct anyone! Sometimes I have friends who come along for the ride, but that's not the same thing!"
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Despite his explanations, he could still sense her doubt. "May I prove it to you?" he asked. Turning the wrist of his free hand, he gently guided her fingers to it, letting her take his pulse. For someone battle-trained in taking vital signs, he knew that the double-thump of his heartsbeat would be difficult to mistake. "I have two hearts, Ellie."
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"By hearts? Don't you mean hear-" She was cut off by the feeling of a twin pulse. She blinked, looked rather shocked and tried to find words that wouldn't make her sould moronic. "Two hearts...right." She was starting to believe all his claims now...
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He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Humans are, by far, my favorite species. You're much nicer company than any stuffy old Time Lord, Ellie."
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