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The Doctor had decided to take them to California in the 1950's. Something about meeting his old friend Frank Sinatra, which was news to Danni but she loved that she was still finding out so much about him despite how long she had been in his universe. She yawned, sitting down near the pool at Marilyn Monroe's party, pulling the little black dress down so it covered her thighs more. After all, it had been a couple of days since she'd been able to get any proper sleep. One thing about her life with the Doctor she wasn't sure was entirely healthy was her sleeping pattern. She had slowly come to gain the lack of need for a large amount of sleep. If given the chance, she could fall unconscious for days, but she also could go around 49 hours without having to have more than a quick catnap. It was heading closer and closer to that 49th hour, her legs were feeling wobbly and her eyes drooping.
"Are you all right?" She looked up to see Abigail smiling down at her, but without the brightness she had come to recognise in the woman's eyes. Danni knew why, her countdown was almost over. Danni shot her a smile of her own and patted the lounger she had taken perch on.
"Fine." She replied, "Just a bit tired. How are you?" Abigail sat down, a guilty look on her face.
"I'm trying to enjoy myself." She explained, "For Kazran's sake. But I find myself unable to." Danni nodded.
"I can understand that." She told her, "But he doesn't. You might want to tell him tonight." Abigail seemed surprised, "He deserves to know everything about you. He loves you dearly."
"But he will not let me out again." Abigail protested, "No more Christmas Eves, and he loves them so much." Danni sighed, running a hand through her hair as it turned into another yawn.
"The thing is, Abigail, you need to stay in the box for a while now."
"Why?" Abigail asked, confused.
"Do you remember asking me how I knew about your days?" Abigail nodded, "The thing is, I can sort of see the future. Well, it's more like I watched it really. And there is time, far into Kazran's future, where he will let thousands and thousands of people die just because he couldn't be bothered to care."
"No, that's not Kazran at all." Abigail exclaimed.
"Not this Kazran, no." Danni conceded, "But the one I first met? Before the Doctor brought us back into his past to save him hated everyone and everything. It's all of us, but especially you, that have shaped him into this wonderful young man."
"But I don't understand." Abigail admitted, "Why does that involve me telling him about my last day?"
"He will horde it." Danni explained gently, "He will never be able to choose which day he wants to be your last. Until the day the spaceship is crashing, when he will realise you would want to save the passengers over yourself. He will let you out, you will sing and save them, and you will finally get a Christmas Day instead of a Christmas Eve."
"Why are you telling me this?" Abigail asked her, tears in her eyes and Danni shot her an apologetic smile.
"Because choice is something most of us have very little of." She replied, "I have very little choice in my life. I can't choose my home, or who I spend my time with. I can't even choose what time period I am in, or which Doctor I'm with. It's very complicated." She offered at Abigail's confused look, "The fact is you helped me realise something. I did a terrible thing. An awfully terrible thing. The Doctor, this Doctor has forgiven me. I now know there are Doctor's who won't have, and there are Doctor's who it hasn't even happened for yet. I could feel guilty always, and when I'm with the appropriate Doctor it will work and I can make us all miserable for the rest of the time. Or, when I'm with this Doctor I can be happy with him, and with the Doctor who is sad I can be sad too. You gave me that choice, and I want you to have the same. You can tell Kazran, he can horde your last day and you can save all those people. Or, you don't. Next Christmas Eve all of us will be there, you will seemingly die out of the blue and Kazran might save them on his own. But it should be your choice."
"If I don't tell him, will all those people die?" Danni shrugged.
"I don't know." Danni told her honestly.
"If I do, how long will he wait?" Abigail asked, crying and Danni bit her lit.
"When I first met Kazran, he was an old man." She broke to her as gently as she could, "It will be decades before he'll let you out."
"What if I ask him to let me out next Christmas anyway?" Danni shrugged again.
"I don't know." She repeated, "But if I had to say, I don't think he would. I think he would still horde your day."
"So that is my choice?" Abigail sobbed, "Those two days?" Danni pulled her in for a hug.
"I am so sorry." She told Abigail sincerely, "I wish there was another way." Abigail pulled back, sniffing and smiling sadly.
"I know you do." Abigail told her and Danni stood up, pulling the skirt of her dress down.
"I'll go send Kazran." Danni explained gently, "You can tell him, or you can dance with him. I won't ask, and I won't know until it's happened. I just hope you choose what's best for you, not anyone else."
~0~0~0~
Abigail told Kazran about her last day, like Danni knew she would. Abigail was never going to let all the people aboard the spaceship die because of her own selfish wants, and however heartbreaking it was Danni was glad she told her.
Kazran told the Doctor to not come back, much like he did on the show. 'Well, Christmas is for kids, isn't it?', he hadsaid to the Doctor, breaking his hearts ever so slightly. Danni had told him there was noting he could do, but she had one more stop to make. The Doctor had frowned in confusion and had taken her to the next Christmas Eve, keeping his promise to stay in the TARDIS and to not listen in on what was going to happen next.
Danni took her place at Kazran's desk in his bedroom, waiting patiently for the now young man to head for bed that evening. He had frozen, seemingly stunned for a moment before narrowing his eyes angrily at her and the situation.
"I thought I told you to not come back this year?" He had snapped and she shook her head.
"No, you told the Doctor that. But, I am only staying for a moment, so don't get your knickers in a twist?"
"Knickers?" He repeated, confused and she shook her head.
"Doesn't matter." She offered, "I just wanted you to know that I think you're doing the right thing."
"What do you mean?" He asked harshly, but she wasn't fazed.
"I know about Abigail's last day." She explained, "I always have, right from the beginning."
"You knew?" He asked, surprised, before turning furious, taking a large stride over to her and glaring down at the small woman, "And you didn't think to say? Not once? You let me fall in love with her just for her to be torn away from me?"
"Are you saying you wish you didn't have those memories with her?" She asked calmly in return, "Are they not worth the heartbreak?" He didn't reply, which meant 'yes, but I don't have to like it', "I know how you feel, Kazran."
"How can you possibly know how this feels?" He raged.
"Because I have the last day coming up too." She replied simply, "There is a day coming up in my future, the last day of someone I deeply care about. The end of days, as it were. But, unlike you Kazran, I don't have the choice of when."
"The Doctor is dying?" He asked, betraying his anger with the concern he suddenly felt and Danni shook her head.
"No, but someone very similar to him." She admitted and again he was confused. He had seen the Doctor with Danni, had mimicked them when with Abigail. If not the Doctor, then who?
"The point is, Kazran, is that if I was in your position, I would do exactly the same thing." She continued, "I pray each time I open my eyes I'm not there, on that day. I don't want it to be over, you see, even though it means I'll see him again. That's what you feel like, don't you?"
"How do I choose the perfect day?" He asked her, begging her for an answer because it had been a year now and he was still no closer to to an answer.
"You don't." Danni replied unhelpfully, "The fact is, Kazran, it could be decades before you find that perfect day. But it's your choice to open the door, understand? Because Abigail chose too, and her choice was your day." Danni stood up, "I trust you, Kazran, and so did she. Merry Christmas." And, despite trying his hardest not to be, Kazran was slightly amused as she hopped out of his bedroom window and into the night.
~0~0~0~
Kazran only ever called on them once, using the half of the sonic screwdriver the Doctor had left him for such an occasion. However, one look at the couple, happy and always together had him closing the curtains on them and that life for good.
The next step was to show him the people that he was allowing to die. All the people on the ship, singing to try and change the cloud belt as Amy begged him to let the ship she and her husband was on land safely. He actually could feel them getting through to him, which frustrated him further. What gave the Doctor and his girlfriend the right to play with his life like they had? Make him feel so much pain, a constant ache in his heart, while all along they were only trying to save the people above him? It had nothing to do with him at all.
As he always did in times of stress and anguish, he headed to Abigail, who was frozen in all her youthful spender, waiting for him to let her live that last day. The woman in the hologram, wearing an indecent police uniform prodded and pried until he snapped, telling her exactly what the Doctor had done, how he teased and taunted with Abigail, only for her to die on him just as he felt the most love for her. Now he was bitter and alone, and if the Doctor wanted these people to survive there was no way he was ever going to let that happen.
"Doctor!" He shouted, looking around the spaceship he had been projected into, only to find himself back in the storeroom, the Doctor stood in front of him, holding Danni tightly to his side. Protectively, if had to put a description on it. As if he was scared Kazran would do something to her. Good. The Doctor had cast a sentence on Abigail, let him fear the same for the woman he loved.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor offered quietly, "I didn't realise." He gave Danni a tight squeeze, telling her off silently for not letting him in on the secret. She just leant on his arm and Kazran's anger flared again at their closeness. They were allowed, why wasn't he?!
"All my life, I've been called heartless. My other life, my real life, the one you rewrote." He snarled, "Now look at me."
"Better a broken heart than no heart at all." The Doctor responded.
"Says the man who frolics through Christmas's with the woman he loves." Kazran snapped in response, "Before you offer advice, I suggest you try it. Why are you here?"
"Cos we're not finished with you yet." He let go of Danni, still uncertain as he his stepped towards Kazran, "You've seen the past, the present...and now you need to see the future." Kazran rolled his eyes, tired of the man toying with him.
"Fine! Do it! Show me! I'll die cold, alone and afraid. Of course I will, we all do! What difference does showing me make? Do you know why I'm going to let those people die? It's not a plan. I don't get anything from it. It's just that I don't care. I'm not like you. I don't even want to be like you!" He had, for such a large part of his adolescence, wanted to grow up to be just like the Doctor. Now he still couldn't think of anything more abhorrent than being like the man in front of him. He stormed up, not as tall as he used to be, but he could still almost get up to the Doctor's face, snarling in his face, "I don't and never, ever will care!"
"And I don't believe that." The Doctor replied, unfazed.
"Then show me the future. Prove me wrong." Kazran taunted.
"I am showing it to you. I'm showing it to you right now. So what do you think?" The Doctor called over his shoulder. Kazran slowly turned to see his younger self, back from the first night he met the Doctor, stood there still in his pyjamas. He looked terrified, horrified at the man he was being shown. Danni sighed sadly, rubbing her arm. She had hoped it wouldn't come to this, it was why she had gone to see him in the first place. Maybe he could have been shown the error of his ways without having to show a child this was the man he would become.
"Is this who you want to become, Kazran?" The Doctor asked the young boy. The two versions of the same person slowly walked towards each other, younger Kazran scared and older Kazran amazed.
"Dad?" Young Kazran whispered and in anger, older Kazran chucked his cane aside, striding up to the boy and raising his hand to strike him. Then, after flashing memory after memory of his father, he lowered his hand. This wasn't what he wanted to become. Not ever. What would Abigail think?
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He sobbed, tears streaming down his face. He reached out, looking for comfort from his younger self as much as offering it but the boy stepped away, afraid, "It's OK, don't be frightened." The boy allowed him to pull him in for a hug, "I'm...I'm so, so, so..."
"Kazran." Danni called over and the old man turned to look at her, the joy he remembered feeling when seeing the couple slowly returning, even as she smiled apologetically, "We don't have much time."
~0~0~0~
The controls hadn't worked, but then again Danni had warned the Doctor about that. They only had one hope now, and that was how they found themselves at Abigail's icebox, the Older Kazran staring at his beloved through the small porthole at the top, as he had done for so many years.
"Her voice resonates perfectly with the ice crystals. It calmed the shark. It will calm the sky, too." The Doctor explained softly and Danni nudged him to keep tell him to keep quiet.
"Could you do it?" Kazran replied quietly, "Could you do this? Think about it, Doctor. One last day with your beloved. With your Danni, one more day. Which day would you choose?" He turned, looking over his shoulder at Danni, "You told me I would get to choose the day. With this man you love, you couldn't bear to think of the day you'd see him for the last time. Why tell me I could choose?" The Doctor looked down at her, stunned and slightly hurt. There was only one other person Kazran could be talking about, only one other person she had a last day with. And she didn't correct him, she just shook her head.
"I didn't." She corrected gently, "That was Abigail's choice. There was only ever two possible outcomes, that next Christmas Eve, or today. She chose today. It's your choice whether to open the door for her."
"She knew?" He asked, surprised and she nodded.
"I wanted you both to know how you have affected each other so completely." She explained, "Abigail had the choice to be with you for one last day, and it broke her to save these people over that time. But that was the person she was, and the person she knew you could be. The Kazran she knew wouldn't have let those people die." He turned back, staring at her face. He reached up stroking the glass lightly.
"This was her choice?" He whispered, his heart aching anew at how beautiful she was, inside and out, "Would you be able to do this, Doctor? If this was your Danni's choice, would you let her out?"
"No." The Doctor admitted reluctantly, and Danni looked up in surprise at his answer. He wasn't looking at her, in fact his head was bowed and he was looking terribly guilty, "I would never give her up for anything, not even her own choice. But I am ancient, and more selfish than anyone in the universe. You are better than me, Kazran." Kazran nodded to himself. He was, wasn't he? He unlocked the door and Abigail stepped out, alive and vibrant.
"It's Christmas day, isn't it?" She asked him and he nodded, eyes shining. She reached up, stroking his elderly cheek with a bright smile, "So old now. I think Danni was right, you waited a bit too long, didn't you?" He nodded.
"I'm sorry." He sobbed, broken but she shook her head, telling him not to be sad.
"Hoarding my days, like an old miser." She continued.
"But...if you leave the ice now..." He started and she placed a finger against his lips.
"We've had so many Christmas Eves, Kazran. I think it's time for Christmas Day."
~0~0~0~
Danni sat with her legs dangling outside the TARDIS doors, into the space beyond. It had been quite a while since she'd been able to do this and she felt calm and collected as the vastness of the universe outside brought her some inner peace. It had been a terrible affair, but beautiful in it's own right. The Ponds were safe and sound, although strangely dressed as they had headed to their bedroom. Abigail and Kazran got their last day together, and she knew deep in her heart there wasn't a more perfect day for them than that. Because, it was always going to be devastating, but they were together and that made it perfect. She was quite the romantic at heart.
The Doctor settled down next to her, long legs dangling out as he clasps his hands in his lap. Neither of them said a word, both content to sit silently together.
"I think," He started, breaking the silence, "I'm going to drop the Ponds off home." She looked up at him, surprised.
"Really?" She asked and he nodded.
"For the summer. They deserve some 'married couple' time together."
"Ah." She nodded, "And we'll jump to the other side of the summer?" He shook his head.
"No. Well, not straight away anyway." He looked down at his hands and Danni watched, suddenly very concerned. What was he wanting to do first?
"Are you taking me to Jack's?" She asked, and his head shot up, eyes wide, just as alarmed.
"What? No, no of course not. Well," He ran his hand through his hair, "Not unless you want to go. We can, if you like?" She shook her head.
"I don't understand." She declared, "Why aren't we going to pick the Ponds up straight away if you're not just dropping me off first?" He reached over, cupping her face with his hand, trailing his fingers lightly down her cheek.
"Because of Abigail." He replied, "I wasn't lying, I am going to keep you to myself. And," He shook his head. He hated thinking about it, because he knew that he couldn't stop it, and it tore at his hearts, "And you're days are going to end long before mine. And I can't bear it."
"It scares you, doesn't it?" She asked in realisation, "Having to live through my last day?"
"There is nothing worse in my life than the fact I'm going to lose you." He admitted, "And it is going to be my fault." She shook her head.
"Oh, Theta. Of course it won't be." She hugged him tightly and he held her as close as he could in their current position, revelling in the fact that she was alive and in his arms for another moment, "I'm going to grow old with you. I promise." He shook his head, burying his nose in her hair. Even if she did. Even, if my some cosmic miracle, she lived to a ripe old human age, he still couldn't save her from the inevitable. He would fail, and she would die.
"I guess I just need to keep you to myself for a while. I'm not ready to share you with anyone else just yet." He told her and she nodded, pulling back and the bright smile on her face reassured him slightly.
"Let's drop the Ponds off, then, shall we?" He nodded, grateful, before taking her face in his hands again and placing his lips against hers, coaxing her gently but desperately to move with him, pouring everything he could into the gentle caresses.
Sensing that there was more to this than her mortality, Danni broke the kiss to stand up and hold her hand out to him. She then lead him into the TARDIS, determined to show him that above all else, she loved him.