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Danni smiled gratefully as the Doctor handed her a cup of tea, having somehow managed to locate some in the midst of all the coffee that was scattered on the refreshments table. They'd moved back to the base of operations and while Clara and Alec were making sure Emma was okay from the encounter with what appeared to be an actual ghost, the Doctor had been focused entirely on Danni. He'd sat her in a chair, shrugging his jacket off quickly before draping it around her shoulders. He'd tugged it close, just to try and help with her shivering before making her a cup of tea to warm her up.
Alec had watched them from afar, the Doctor's attempts to comfort his wife seemed to be working, but as he looked back at Emma, he wasn't sure he could pull it off himself. So he did what he did best, which was make notes on everything that had happened, burying himself in his work as Clara did her best to make Emma feel better.
The Doctor knelt down in front of Danni, smiling warmly at her as she blew on the top of the mug. He hand a hand on each of her legs, trying to keep some form of contact with her. She couldn't look him in the eye, she felt so embarrassed over her extreme reaction to what had happened. She'd been so scared, and for no reason at all other than her own misguided terror and it'd taken him a while to calm her down. So, she kept her gaze firmly on the brown, milky liquid in front of her.
"Thanks, sweetie." She whispered, taking a sip, "I can't stop shaking." She tried to laugh it off, but it became more of a hiccup that got stuck in her throat.
"It's just adrenaline." He reassured her, "You used to do the same when you first fell into my life." He smirked slightly, "You were so young."
"Everyone's young to you, old man." Danni teased and he chuckled, nodding.
"You're not wrong there." He replied. She took another sip of her tea, trying not to wince as it burnt her tongue slightly.
"What's next, then?" She asked him, hoping to distract herself from what had happened, "Do we know what it is yet?"
"I'm hoping the photographs will give me a better idea." He replied, glancing over at Alec, "I'm sure there will be a dark room around here somewhere."
"So, definitely not a ghost?"
He shook his head, "Sorry, not today." She pouted slightly.
"It's never going to be a ghost." She grumbled and he laughed. He reached over, cupping her cheek as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
"Finish your drink, then I'll take you back to the TARDIS." He reassured her. She frowned in reply, shaking her head.
"I'm not going back to the TARDIS." She told him firmly.
"But you were terrified." He protested, "The TARDIS will keep you safe."
"I can't keep running away." She replied, "So what if I'm scared? I've just got to push through it, otherwise I'll never get over it."
"You don't need to get over it." He reassured her, "There's nothing to get over. You're fine."
"We both know that's not true." She corrected gently, "I can't let it rule my life. I can't sit back and watch you go running with someone else." He caught her glance towards Clara.
"I told you-"
"I need to do this." She told him, "Please, let me." He didn't like it. He hated the fact that she was so scared, and seemed to be going out of her way to keep being that scared. He'd happily have taken her back to the TARDIS, so what if she missed the occasional trip? He'd spent centuries doing more without her than with her, and it just made the times with her that much better.
But, if this was what she wanted, he couldn't say no, "The moment you want to go back, I want you to tell me." She crossed over her hearts, which just made him shake his head, amused at her, "I don't know if I'll ever get over that."
"So you shouldn't, Spaceman." She retorted. He placed a kiss on her forehead again before standing up. He spun on the spot, pointing at Alec.
"Dark room?" He inquired.
"Just down the hallway." The professor replied, "I can take you to it." The Doctor nodded, clicking his fingers and pointing to the door.
"Excellent. Lead the way." Alec, ever the stoic man, left without even a word to Emma, just in case he made her uncomfortable. The Doctor started to follow, only to stop as Danni stood up, pulling his jacket around her tighter, "Where are you going?"
"With you." She replied factually, "Like I'm staying behind while you go play with chemicals. That's a recipe for disaster."
"Hey!" He protested, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they headed into the hallway, "I'll have you know I've been developing photographs for longer than you've been alive."
"Way to pull the old man card again." She teased. He tried to feel offended, even acting like he was even though the fact he could physically feel her relaxing was making him soar. Her emotions had almost completely settled, and his cheeky wife was coming back again.
"I'll take my jacket back." He warned her and she shook her head, using her arms to hold it close.
"No, you gave it to me, it's my jacket now." He laughed, stopping to pull her into the kiss no one else would let him have. She pushed away, though, before he could get to her, "Ghostbusting, remember?" She told him and he groaned. Everyone was out to get him tonight.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor hadn't been lying when he'd said he'd been developing photographs for years, Danni realised as she watched as he and Alec started developing the film from the camera. It was quite fascinating, really. They both seemed to work together very well, in almost complete silence. She didn't really know anything about developing photographs but the Doctor had let her hang the occasional one on the line above the work bench to make her feel included. It was quite compelling viewing, actually, to watch them all come to life in front of her eyes.
"I had a little peek at your records, back at the Ministry." The Doctor started as Alec worked on one of the last photos, "You've certainly seen a thing or two in your time - disrupting U-Boat operations across the North Sea," He walked around the work bench as he listed off Alec's achievements, "sabotaging railway lines across Europe, Operation Gibbon, the one with the carrier pigeons - brilliant!" He smiled to himself, "I do love a carrier pigeon." Danni felt there was a joke in there somewhere, but the look on Alec's face really showed that he didn't think his achievements were as good as the Doctor seemed to think they were. So she kept quiet, pulling the jacket closer still, revelling in the smell of her husband on it, surrounding her.
"I did my duty," Alec offered as an excuse, trying to downplay his part in what was a horrific war, "but then so did thousands of others - MILLIONS of others..." He poked at the photo developing in the liquid with pair of tongs, "I was just luck enough to come back."
"Yes but, how does that man, that war hero end up here, in a lonely old house, looking for ghosts?" The Doctor asked, reaching up and tapping one of the developed pictures hanging from the line. Emma was facing away from the camera, but there was a very definite white blur on it, from the figure they'd all seen.
Alec didn't answer straight away, he wasn't sure he wanted to, but the ever-present lump in his throat didn't seem to stop him, "Because I killed... and I caused to have killed..." He explained sadly, full of a guilt Danni'd seen in the Doctor's face so many times before, "I sent young men and women to their deaths... but here I am, still alive, and... it does tend to haunt you. Living, after so much of... the other thing." He tried to smile as a picture of the Doctor came into existence in the fluid, but it just made him look devastated. He didn't say much else for a moment. The Doctor, feeling slightly guilty at bringing it up, because he knew that pain all too well, started walking around the bench again, looking at the pictures that had already developed.
"See, I was alone and unmarried and..." Alec suddenly piped up, making excuses for himself he didn't need to, "I didn't mind dying. I mean, not for that cause. It was a very, very fine cause...defeating the enemy."
"What changed?" Danni asked and the pair looked over at her, both looking slightly confused.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"In my experience, which I admit is quite lacking," She started, moving so she was across the work bench from the two men, "good men who fight in wars and survive tend to start looking for a reason to die. It has to be a good reason, like saving people from burning buildings or," she waved her hand in the air as she tried to think of another example, "or, saving the planet from alien invasions." She settled on, purposefully referencing the Doctor, "They want to prove that the loss of life was worth it. But you, you're here, searching for ghosts. You've found something to live for, so what changed?"
"Well, I'd very much like to thank them." Alec replied with a bit of a stutter, "For giving their lives for me."
"Why, though?" She asked gently, "You don't think you were worth it. You still don't. So why are you thanking them?" He shifted uncomfortably, looking down at the picture in the fluid to see it fully formed. The Doctor was shooting her a slightly confused look, and she smiled cheekily at him in return. Even he can't have been oblivious to how strongly Alec had reacted to Emma when she'd been so afraid her knees had given way. Danni had noticed it, and she'd been scared out of her mind. She might have not been an expert at matchmaking or anything, but she'd spent enough time with a hesitant Ten to know a man who was pining after someone. Sometimes it was nice to nudge them in the right direction. Plus, it kept her preoccupied rather than worrying about impending death.
"It's done." He told them lamely, picking the picture up with finger, hanging it just above the tray. The picture was of a stunned Doctor, the white blur of the 'ghost' next to him, eyes black and mouth open in a scream, "What do you think she is?" He asked the Doctor, who squinted his eyes slightly as he looked over the photo.
"Not what I thought she'd be." He replied.
"What did you think she'd be?"
"Fun." He replied, wondering if there was any way he could look at the poor, screaming woman and not feel a tinge of sadness, "Can I borrow your camera?" Alec reached over, handing him the camera. "Ta. Danni-Girl, with me." She nodded, darting around the bench to take his outstretched hand.
"Do you think she's coming back?" Danni asked him as he dragged her out into the hall, heading towards where Clara and Emma were waiting.
"No, we're going to her." The Doctor replied, "What was that back there?"
"Sometimes people just need reminding that they are loved." She told him, grinning as he looked down at her suspiciously.
"You are seriously becoming more cheeky as time goes on." He declared and she nodded.
"I know, it's fantastic." She replied, shaking her head and tutting as he pulled them both to a stop, "Ghost lady, remember?" She scolded lightly as he tried to kiss her yet again.
"Why is everyone against me?" He cried, petulantly, "Come on, then. Better pick up Clara before we head off."
"Head off where?"
~0~0~0~
Always. That was his answer; they were going always. He thought he was so clever, being all cryptic but all it meant was keeping the TARDIS in the same spot and taking photo after photo of the world outside as they flew through the years. The Doctor donned a quite frankly awful spacesuit, one he'd seemed to have always loved, to go outside when the planet wasn't hospitable enough for just his suit.
He dashed outside, Clara watching through the monitor with tears in her eyes. She looked so sad, something Danni tried her best to ignore. She really did, she wasn't her companion, and she didn't know what she was. She was still a threat, but she looked ready to cry and just as much as the Doctor couldn't stand to see people cry, neither could Danni. She still had the Doctor's jacket on, although she was actually wearing it properly instead of holding it around her like a cape, so she wasn't sure that she'd come across as anything but slightly comical.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" She asked Clara, who nodded.
"Me? I'm fine." Clara replied, obviously trying to sound upbeat even though it sounded anything but.
"Of course you're fine." Danni muttered, suddenly wondering why she either bothered. That was a new feeling, actually and she was slightly stunned at herself. The Doctor rushed back in, camera in hand, skidding to a stop when he was the two women. Clara looked uncomfortable, Danni looked sullen. He glanced back at the door, he'd only been gone two minutes, tops.
"What's wrong? Did the TARDIS say something to you?" He asked Clara. The TARDIS seemed to have taken a dislike to the girl, moving her room, getting her lost on more than one occasion. No one really knew why, but the Doctor wasn't too worried about it. Instead, he just slapped the top of the console, "Are you being mean?"
"No, it's not that." Clara replied, unable to take her eyes off the screen, "Have we just watched the entire life cycle of the Earth? Birth to death?"
The Doctor thought on it for a moment, while Danni fought the urge to roll her eyes. Of course she'd open up to him, "Yes!" He decided on, realising that he had just taken them through the lot. He'd have to take them back to prehistoric Earth. The plants were just stunning, and Danni had always liked a nice garden.
"And you're OK with that?" She asked quietly and he turned to look at the screen, looking at it suspiciously. Perhaps he shouldn't have brought Clara after all. He'd not thought the trip would upset her.
"Yes." He drawled as he walked past her. Clara turned, watching him walk away, the tears in her eyes making him feel guilty.
"How can you be?" She whispered and he nodded, a big smile spreading on his face as he motioned to the machine all around them.
"The TARDIS." He replied, like it explained everything, "She's... time. We... Wibbly vortex and so on."
"That's not what I mean." Clara told him.
"OK...some help? Context?" He looked to his wife for help, but she just shrugged. Clara had managed to work herself up, and she'd not wanted her help, "Cheat sheet? Something?"
"I mean, one minute you're in 1974, looking for ghosts but all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever's standing there. To you, I haven't been born yet... and to you, I've been dead 100 billion years. Is my body out there somewhere? In the ground?" She looked back at the monitor, as if she could spot where her grave was.
"Hey, hey. It's okay." Danni replied, moving closer and taking her hand. Clara looked down at her, as if she had an answer to her questions, "You can't think like that. You can't spend your whole life worrying about what happens after it."
"But it's true." She protested, "We live, we die, and you two, you walk among us, living through it all without blinking an eye. I live, I die, but here we are, talking. So I am a ghost. To you, I'm a ghost... we're all ghosts to you. We must be nothing."
The Doctor, who'd headed to the stairs to get away from the conversation, paused and looked over his shoulder, "No." He replied firmly, before shooting a small smile at her, "No... you're not that." She jogged over as he headed down them, concentrating all he had on getting changed.
"Then what are we?" Clara demanded desperately, What can we possibly be?"
The Doctor looked up at her, a faint, sad smile appearing on his face. This woman, this impossible girl who made his wife scared out of her mind yet unable to stand back as she cried, held so much life and hope and she didn't even know it. "You are the only mystery worth solving."
Danni's hearts clenched in her chest, tightening at his words. There had been a time where that had been her, jumping through his time line with no rhyme or reason. Where she'd fascinated him, where she had been the mystery. Even with her unexplained regeneration, she could feel him slipping away. And as Clara turned around, bright eyes and reminding her so much of her old self, how was she supposed to keep him at all?
~0~0~0~
The ghost really did turn out to be no ghost at all, but a time traveller. One of the first ever human time travellers, in fact, who'd trip had gone terribly wrong and she was stuck in pocket universe. Something about that had struck a chord with Danni, somewhere in her subconscious she knew she'd heard that name before, but she couldn't put her finger on where. Either way, though, it didn't matter. The poor woman, Hila Tacorien, was stuck in an echo of the universe, one that wasn't going to last too long, being stalked by something unknown and slightly terrifying.
The TARDIS was out of the question, so it was all down to Emma. She was calling to Hila, she was the one that Hila was running to. It had to be her that brought her back to earth. The Doctor rushed around the room, setting up the equipment necessary as quick as he could. Clocks were placed around the room in a circle and Emma sat in the middle, waiting for the Doctor to finish up. Danni stood to the side, holding his jacket close, biting her lip anxiously. Why did he always have to do this?
The Doctor noticed, he saw her shifting on the spot, looking really uncomfortable with the entire situation. After Clara had helped him into his makeshift harness, he walked over to her, trying to get her to smile back at him. It didn't work, his own carefree grin was only returned with a tiny smile of her own.
"Danni..."
"Do you have to do this?" She interrupted, "Because, I don't think you do. Surely she should be able to find her way back by following Emma's voice, especially now you've amplified her."
He stroked her cheek, finger running across her soft bottom lip and he realised that before he did this, he really had to make sure he kissed her again, "I'll be back before you know it."
"But what if you're not?" She replied, "What if you get stuck too?"
"As if." He replied and she actually giggled at how foreign that sounded from his lips, "You have my favourite jacket." She leapt forward, chucking her arms around him, holding him just as tightly as he held her back.
"Listen," He whispered into her hair, "You don't have to be scared. You never have to be scared." He smiled fondly at her, his green eyes shining almost as much as hers were, "I'm always going to be here to save you from the monsters, whether they're real or in your head."
"You won't be if you get trapped." She insisted.
"Then I won't get trapped." He promised simply, leaning down to kiss her. She shook her head, pulling away.
"Not until you get back." She replied and he pouted.
"Danni-Girl!" He whined but she shook her head.
"I know what you're like. You'll get distracted, you'll think you can wait just one second more and then that'll be it." She retorted, "You want a kiss, you come back to me." He smiled softly, nodding and taking her hand in his. It was just her way of trying to take control of a situation she felt helpless in, and he knew all too well what that felt like. He could hold off if it made her feel better. He walked over to Emma, taking Danni with her.
"Doctor?" The woman asked as she sat on an old dining chair. She had a crown-like device on her head, a bright blue gem in the middle that the Doctor said would help amplify her abilities, "Will it hurt?" He bent down slightly, shooting her a reassuring look that she instantly relaxed at.
"No." He replied before straightening, the look falling from his face, "Well, yes. Probably. A bit. Well, quite a lot. I don't know. It might be agony. To be perfectly honest, I'll be interested to find out." He looked pleased at the prospect, and Danni nudged him in the side.
"Stop it." She warned as Emma looked over at Alec, looking for comfort from him instead. He shot her a smile and nodded, and so she turned back in her chair.
"I'm talking to the lost soul that abides in this place." Emma called, closing her eyes, "I'm speaking to Hila Tacorian." The Doctor backed away slowly, heading for the winch that held the rope he'd used to pull himself and Hila back through with. As he picked it up, Emma gasped, her eyes shooting open. The black disk reappeared, spinning out of control and Danni jumped into his side, clinging to his hand tightly.
"What is it?" She cried over the rush of wind coming from the black thing hanging in mid-air.
"It's the well!" He shouted back, turning to look at Alec and Clara, who had both been quietly observing up until now, "See? The Witch of the Well! It's a wormhole!" He hooked the rope onto the harness, "A reality well! A door to the echo universe!" He turned to Emma, "Ready?"
"Ready!" She shouted back and he turned to look at the wormhole. He cracked his neck, then looked down at Danni.
"Don't be scared." He told her and she nodded. He let go of her hand, calling out 'Geronimo' as he charged towards the white light that was pouring from one dimension to the next
Danni felt a lot of things. She felt regret at the fact that she hadn't kissed him before he'd jumped into the pocket universe. A look at Clara, who was watching the Doctor as anxious as she looked, had her feeling guilty at the fact she'd really not given the girl a chance, considering that she hadn't actually done anything yet. She felt stupid that she'd thought that the Doctor might have gone off her after she regenerated, cause all he'd done all evening was try and be close to her, even throughout the terror.
The one thing she didn't feel, though, as she charged after him was scared. She knocked him off balance as she grabbed the back of the harness, clinging on with all she had as they fell into the bright white light together.