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toxic_cornSeries: Kristy and The Doctor
Title: Chapter Seventeen - The Star
Author: toxic_corn and nutmeg610
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Ann M. Martin, Scholastic Books, and the BBC. Sometimes ABC even. And NBC. Okay, practically no one is ours, okay? We aren't collecting any money so pretty please don't sue? We're both broke college students.
Summary: Kristy Thomas has been doing well since her days as president of the Babysitters Club. She's about to graduate from the University of Connecticut and her best friend's finacee can get her a place in the LAPD. It looks like her future is set until a strange man in a magic blue box shows up and changes everything...
Authors' Note: Yet another pairing in the crack series. We found the idea of The Doctor having to put up with the blunt, bossy Kristy to be funny and from there the story grew. If you think that now we are officially certifiable, you're most likely right. This follows the other stories in the crack series: Your Boyfriend Snorts Cocaine, Mary Anne and Wanna Get It On, Dawn?
Only one more chapter to go and then we're alllll done!
Catch up on earlier chapters at the organizational post.
Chapter Seventeen – The Star
“I bought Frey another birthday present this year. Kristy too. They have to come home sometime, right? Or is it just wishful thinking?”
- snippet of an email from Stacey McGill to Dawn Schafer-Callis
It was at dinner that Frey made the suggestion.
“Dad,” he said cautiously, poking at his cooked carrots.
“Yes?” The Doctor took a sip of red wine and raised his eyebrows.
“Could we go back to Aquatica?”
There was a long, dreadful silence.
Then, “No.”
“Dad, I know that you’ve let Mum go but… I haven’t. And I need to.” Frey’s eyes filled with tears. “I’ll turn ten next week and for my gift, I’d like to go back there and say goodbye to her once and for all. I need to.”
The Doctor considered this a long moment and then nodded. “All right. We’ll pay respects to your mother.”
Frey looked relieved. “Good. May I be excused?”
“Two more bites of carrots should do it.”
Sighing heavily, Frey ate his carrots and then scuttled away from the table. The Doctor watched him go with a sad smile on his face. His son was growing more and more everyday and looked so much like Kristy. He was learning as each day went by and someday he may even be smarter than The Doctor. Well, maybe smart as, not smarter.
But the boy was wrong about one thing: The Doctor had not let go of Kristy. He started every day and ended it with the memory machine on his head, re-living moment after moment with his darling dearheart.
This visit was going to hurt like nothing had ever hurt before.
~*~
Aquatica was just as small as they remembered, but it looked much more different. For one thing, the adverts for the sea-monster rides were gone. Probably the death of an innocent woman had shut that trade down long ago, The Doctor thought bitterly. But instead of looking run down by the loss of their major trade, Aquatica looked richer.
He and Frey walked along a clean, pretty street and stared at all the shining buildings and the bustling, prosperous people. It was hard to believe that this was the same place.
“Got a little nicer, didn’t it?” The Doctor said to his son but noticed he was walking by himself. “Frey?” He turned and found the boy standing there, gaping up at the sky.
“What? What is it?” The Doctor went to him, frowning.
Wordlessly, Frey just pointed up.
The Doctor turned and looked and his jaw promptly hit the ground.
There on a billboard was Kristy. She wore a skimpy-looking costume, a half shirt and short skirt in glittery green, with cleats on her feet. She stood on a pitcher’s mound and drank some kind of cola drink, winking at the people below her as the wind tossed her long dark hair around her. Then she wound up and pitched the baseball in her hand as hard as she could. As the ball got closer they saw the print on it read, “GALACTIC COLA: OUT OF THIS WORLD!”
Suddenly, an announcer’s voice came out of a speaker under the billboard. "Kristy Thomas: the Lady of Intergalactic Softball's press conference at the Civic Arena will start in ten minutes!"
Frey took off running at a fast clip. “She’s alive!!”
It took The Doctor another moment before he could get his feet moving and then he was on Frey’s heels.
~*~
The water was so cold, it shocked her system and she couldn’t move for a moment. Not that she could, with the massive tentacle wrapped around her ankle, tightening its grip by the nano second.
Finally able to act, she forced her fingers into her pocket and struggled to get out her pocket knife. She stabbed viciously at the tentacle and it loosened its hold long enough so she could kick to the surface. But of course there were more tentacles and she fought and fought as hard as she could, sometimes getting to the surface.
Her son needed her. She had to get to her son.
One of the monsters had sharp teeth and had grazed her badly along her front. Her t-shirt was in two flaps but still she fought to get away, though she was getting more and more tired.
When she had made The Doctor promise to look after Frey, she’d given up and allowed the things to take her to her doom.
So she was startled to wake up much later in a hospital bed, an IV drip in her arm.
“Hey!” she said weakly and then with more force, “HEY!”
A nurse popped her head in. “Oh, you’re awake! How nice.”
“Where’s The Doctor?” Kristy demanded. “I need to see him and my son.”
“The doctor’s with another patient but once he’s done I’ll be sure-”
“No, not a doctor doctor! My doctor! My… husband!” So she was lying, but he could very well be her husband. It hurt that he’d never asked but that didn’t mean he loved her any less.
“All right,” the nurse said, trying to soothe her with her gentle tone. It wasn’t working. “There’s a gentleman in the waiting room, I’ll go get him for you.”
Kristy sagged with relief. “Good. I want- I need to see him.”
The nurse patted her arm and bustled out of the room.
God, every bit of her ached. Especially her upper torso. And her face. She touched her cheek and was shocked to find stitching. The bastards had cut her face open! Looking down her hospital gown, she gasped to see all the ugly red stitching over her chest and stomach. They’d really done a number on her.
“Ahem.” She looked up expecting The Doctor but jolted in surprise at who she saw instead.
“Gil?” she asked in disbelief.
“Hey, Kris.” He cautiously crossed to her bedside. “How do you feel?”
“Like shit,” she said bluntly. “Why are you here? Where’s The Doctor?”
“I don’t know where The Doctor is; I didn’t see him. But, um. I’m the one who found you.” Gil shifted awkwardly.
“Found me?” Kristy repeated stupidly.
“Yeah. Uh, one of the underground tourist activities is letting old, rich guys come and hunt the sea monsters. I was on the crew of the ship that found the pod attacking you.”
“Oh.” Kristy stared down at her hands. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Gil smiled at her. “So, you’re uh… still with The Doctor?”
She nodded. “Is my cellphone anywhere? I need to call him to let him know I’m okay.”
Gil looked even more uncomfortable. “Kristy… your cellphone was destroyed out there in the water. There’s no way it survived. Do you have the TARDIS number or-?”
“No, it doesn’t work like that!” Kristy snapped. “It was programmed into my phone! I just push the button and I can talk to him! There’s no number, you moron!!”
“Okay, you need to calm down,” Gil said firmly, trying to touch her arm but she slapped him away.
“Don’t touch me! I don’t need you touching me! I need The Doctor! And Frey! I need them! I don’t need-” But what she needed got lost in her frenzy of sobbing, burying her face into her hands.
Gil wrapped a comforting arm around her. “Is Frey your son?” he asked gently.
“Yes,” Kristy moaned. “My little boy. H-he’s only six! He needs me!”
“I’ll help you find them,” Gil promised.
“Thank you so much,” Kristy sobbed and buried her face in his chest.
~*~
They’d had to ask an elderly man where the civic center was and now they stood outside it, along with thousands of other people, all buzzing with excitement at the chance to see Kristy Thomas herself.
Frey looked worriedly at the security people. “We’re never going to get in.”
“Never?” The Doctor gave his son’s shoulder a shake. “Don’t you know by now who you’re dealing with?” He pushed through the people to the first security guard he saw, and held up his psychic paper. “Press, good man! I need to get through here with my son!”
The guard took the paper and looked at it suspiciously. “Son?”
“He found out I was supposed to attend this press conference and he got so excited, I didn’t have the heart to force him to go to school,” The Doctor said, patting Frey’s head.
The guard’s frown softened into a smile. “Yeah, I used to get my kid into these things when he was little. Look at ‘im.” He nodded at Frey, chuckling. “Stars in his eyes.”
“Yes, he’s been looking forward to this for a long time,” The Doctor said. He grinned at Frey as the guard waved them through the entrance.
~*~
“Intergalactic softball?” Kristy said, skeptically.
“Yeah!” Gil said encouragingly. “They’re forming a league now! You should try out; I’ll bet you’d make it.”
“I don’t know.” Kristy sighed. “Am I really ready for that?”
Gil gave her a look. “You’ve been playing softball everyday for the last six months as physical therapy. I think you’re ready.”
“But… those uniforms.” She made a face.
“Yeah, they’re skimpy, but-” Gil turned a little red. “You have an amazing body. You could do it.”
Kristy blushed as well. “Um. I-I’ll give it a shot. I don’t think I’ll make it, though.”
By the end of the afternoon, she was made pitcher of the Aquatica Sirens.
~*~
Up on a stage was a long table with little name cards that told the press where each team member would be sitting. The Doctor scanned them and in the middle he saw “Kristy Thomas.” His hearts started to pound. The moment he’d been waiting four years for was seconds away. He didn’t think he could handle the excitement.
“Ladies and gentleman of the press,” a big voice boomed, “THE AQUATICA SIRENS!”
A line of women strode proudly from the wings, some beautiful, some large, some short, some hard, but The Doctor only had eyes for Kristy. She looked much the same, but had a long scar along the left side of her face. And she was dressed in a yellow silk dress and expensive looking shoes she never would’ve worn in the past.
She took her seat and scanned the room with a bored, detached air. There were so many people here, calling her name. How was he going to get her attention?
~*~
Kristy did every bit of publicity offered to her. She didn’t care about the money or attention, but she figured if she made a big enough name for herself, The Doctor would hear of her and come find her.
So she allowed action figures, baseball cards, billboards, commercial spots, even a photoshoot in a men’s magazine. She’d had to autograph millions of copies of that issue, and the photospread had resulted in her winning Most Desired Female award. It was embarrassing and a little annoying, especially when she didn’t care how she spent her money and left it to Gil, who’d become her manager.
He designed a ridiculous, ostentatious house for her near the water. She hated the water. The house had three pools, which just proved Gil didn’t have any sensitivity at all. He said she needed to get over her fear but she’d get over it in her own damn time, without him.
Maybe when The Doctor found her.
But with every year that passed, her hope of this happening grew smaller and smaller.
~*~
“Kristy! Kristy! Is it true you’re going to star in a feature film based on your life?”
“Kristy! Will you be recording an album?”
“Kristy, inquiring minds want to know: Is there a new man in your life?”
The Doctor felt Frey tugging on his arm and looked down at him. “Lift me up!”
“What?”
“Just lift me up, dad!”
Startled by his child’s snarling tone, The Doctor scooped his son up and lifted him above his head.
“Mummy!” Frey bellowed, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Mummy!”
It worked. Kristy looked at them in confusion and then her features cleared into a look of sublime joy. “Frey?!”
The press people around them fell silent, staring at Frey and The Doctor.
Frey started to cry and held his arms out to her. “Mummy!”
“Oh, jellybean!” Kristy leapt over the table, off the stage, and ran to them, the press milling out of the way so she didn’t have to shove through the crowd to get to them.
The Doctor set Frey on his feet and he ran to meet Kristy halfway. She fell to her knees in front of him and pulled him to her chest. “Oh, my sweet little Frey! My jelly bean! I’ve missed you so much!”
“Mummy,” Frey cried as she kissed him all over his face. Crying herself, she hugged the boy tightly and looked up at The Doctor.
"... I can't believe that you're here. I've been waiting and waiting..." Kristy took a shuddering breath.
"But... you were dead,” The Doctor said, weakly.
"Mostly dead. Not... all dead. Gil found me."
“Oh, Gil.” He jerked in surprise. “Wait, Gil Gil?”
She waved over her shoulder at Gil, who was watching this scene looking a little grim faced. "Yeah. Apparently he was on holiday here and just happened to be nearby when... yeah."
“Well, that’s lucky,” The Doctor said, still stunned.
“It was very lucky.” She smoothed Frey’s hair, smiling at her son. “I’m so glad you got him to safety.”
"Yeah, I, I'm glad I had him by my side, or else I wouldn't have been able to go on." The Doctor cleared his throat, not wanting to cry in front of this large group of people.
"I've missed both of you so much..." Kristy held her hand out to him.
He took it. "And we've missed you."
Kristy rose to her feet, still hugging Frey to her with one arm. "Are you going to kiss me any time soon?"
"Well, I thought I might sneak one in there when you weren't look--" He dove in for the kiss and she giggled, cupping the back of his neck.
“My sweet Doctor,” she sighed.
“My Kristy,” he breathed against her lips. “My darling dearheart.”
She shuddered a little at that. "Please call me that every day. I've missed hearing it."
“Oh, I intend to,” he said throatily.
Gil had come down off the stage and stood near them. He cleared his throat to get their attention. “So, um. Should I announce your retirement?”
“Retire-? No.” Kristy shook her head. “A hiatus. I need time to reconnect with my family.”
“Are you going to be able to leave all this behind?” The Doctor asked.
“Leave all what behind?” she asked, only having eyes for him.
"Oh, the celebrity life. The fancy vehicles, cover of magazines...your own billboard,” he gently teased.
"Mmm, I didn't have my Doctor or Gallifrey so I could never really enjoy it."
His face softened. "That's true, you really couldn't, could you? Do you need help packing?"
"I don't need to bring anything with me unless... Yeah, you probably got rid of my stuff, huh?"
"Of course not. We've kept it all. Every hat, every ponytail holder, every sock without a mate."
“You did?” Kristy asked, touched by that.
“Yes.”
She cupped his face, melting at the love she saw in his eyes when suddenly she gasped. "Oh my god, my family thinks I'm dead. Was there a funeral??"
The Doctor looked guilty. "Umm, actually... about that... Frey and I, well, we haven't been back to visit, so they don't know."
"They don't... well, don't you think they may have had a right to know?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Well yes, I was just putting it off... and besides, whenever I'd gained the courage to tell them, I could go back in time to right after I'd lost you to give them the news,” he said sheepishly.
"So they haven't seen Frey in four years, either." She looked sad. "They must be thinking the worst anyway."
“Then Earth will be our first stop,” The Doctor promised, taking her hand.
She smiled at him and taking Frey’s hand, she walked between the two most important men in her life among the flashes of cameras and excited shouting from the people surrounding them.
~*~
Frey took up every second of Kristy’s time since getting on the TARDIS to excitedly tell her of all the happenings since she’d disappeared. He’d only got through a fourth of the adventures before he started to get sleepy and she tucked him in, marveling at how big he’d gotten.
Then she and The Doctor were alone for the first time in years. They stood shyly across from each other in their bedroom.
“Hi,” Kristy said softly.
“Hello,” The Doctor murmured. He beckoned to her and she went to him like a sleepwalker and he wrapped his arms around her, starting to nuzzle her neck. “You look so beautiful.”
“No, I don’t.” She ducked her head, ashamed of her scars. They weren’t the bright red they had been, but had faded to pink. The Doctor said in a few years they’d fade further to white.
“Yes, you do.” He lifted her chin and stared into her eyes. “You’re every bit as beautiful as you were the day I first met you.”
Wanting to test him, she stepped out of his embrace and unzipped her dress, letting it fall around her feet. She ran her hands over the scars that criss crossed over her skin. “What about these?”
“Beautiful,” he said throatily. “They show that you’ve survived.”
She blinked back tears. “I love you.”
“Oh, I love you too, darling dearheart.”
They fell to the bed and The Doctor spent long, exquisite moments kissing every single scar and then they were struggling to get the rest of his clothes off and he was poised to enter her when they stared into each other’s eyes.
“You’re my whole world,” Kristy said, tears spilling. “I can’t lose you again.”
“You won’t,” he swore and entered her slowly. He grit his teeth against thrusting hard, seeing the look of pain on her face. It had been a long time since they’d done this last.
He kept his thrusts as gentle as he could and Kristy clutched at him, calling his name. This was a million times better than any re-lived memory, feeling her hot breath on his neck, the sweat building up between them. Knowing that this was real.
She quaked beneath him and the intensity of her orgasm brought him over the edge as well and he slumped on top of her.
“My girl pillow,” he muttered, nuzzling her temple sleepily.
“Mmmm, boy blanket,” she purred and held him close. “We have to do this every day.”
“Count on it.” He went to sleep with a smile on his face, Kristy gently stroking his hair and humming softly in his ear.
< Chapter Sixteen - Alternate Los Angeles : Chapter Eighteen - A Wedding and a Funeral >
Title: Chapter Seventeen - The Star
Author: toxic_corn and nutmeg610
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Ann M. Martin, Scholastic Books, and the BBC. Sometimes ABC even. And NBC. Okay, practically no one is ours, okay? We aren't collecting any money so pretty please don't sue? We're both broke college students.
Summary: Kristy Thomas has been doing well since her days as president of the Babysitters Club. She's about to graduate from the University of Connecticut and her best friend's finacee can get her a place in the LAPD. It looks like her future is set until a strange man in a magic blue box shows up and changes everything...
Authors' Note: Yet another pairing in the crack series. We found the idea of The Doctor having to put up with the blunt, bossy Kristy to be funny and from there the story grew. If you think that now we are officially certifiable, you're most likely right. This follows the other stories in the crack series: Your Boyfriend Snorts Cocaine, Mary Anne and Wanna Get It On, Dawn?
Only one more chapter to go and then we're alllll done!
Catch up on earlier chapters at the organizational post.
“I bought Frey another birthday present this year. Kristy too. They have to come home sometime, right? Or is it just wishful thinking?”
- snippet of an email from Stacey McGill to Dawn Schafer-Callis
It was at dinner that Frey made the suggestion.
“Dad,” he said cautiously, poking at his cooked carrots.
“Yes?” The Doctor took a sip of red wine and raised his eyebrows.
“Could we go back to Aquatica?”
There was a long, dreadful silence.
Then, “No.”
“Dad, I know that you’ve let Mum go but… I haven’t. And I need to.” Frey’s eyes filled with tears. “I’ll turn ten next week and for my gift, I’d like to go back there and say goodbye to her once and for all. I need to.”
The Doctor considered this a long moment and then nodded. “All right. We’ll pay respects to your mother.”
Frey looked relieved. “Good. May I be excused?”
“Two more bites of carrots should do it.”
Sighing heavily, Frey ate his carrots and then scuttled away from the table. The Doctor watched him go with a sad smile on his face. His son was growing more and more everyday and looked so much like Kristy. He was learning as each day went by and someday he may even be smarter than The Doctor. Well, maybe smart as, not smarter.
But the boy was wrong about one thing: The Doctor had not let go of Kristy. He started every day and ended it with the memory machine on his head, re-living moment after moment with his darling dearheart.
This visit was going to hurt like nothing had ever hurt before.
Aquatica was just as small as they remembered, but it looked much more different. For one thing, the adverts for the sea-monster rides were gone. Probably the death of an innocent woman had shut that trade down long ago, The Doctor thought bitterly. But instead of looking run down by the loss of their major trade, Aquatica looked richer.
He and Frey walked along a clean, pretty street and stared at all the shining buildings and the bustling, prosperous people. It was hard to believe that this was the same place.
“Got a little nicer, didn’t it?” The Doctor said to his son but noticed he was walking by himself. “Frey?” He turned and found the boy standing there, gaping up at the sky.
“What? What is it?” The Doctor went to him, frowning.
Wordlessly, Frey just pointed up.
The Doctor turned and looked and his jaw promptly hit the ground.
There on a billboard was Kristy. She wore a skimpy-looking costume, a half shirt and short skirt in glittery green, with cleats on her feet. She stood on a pitcher’s mound and drank some kind of cola drink, winking at the people below her as the wind tossed her long dark hair around her. Then she wound up and pitched the baseball in her hand as hard as she could. As the ball got closer they saw the print on it read, “GALACTIC COLA: OUT OF THIS WORLD!”
Suddenly, an announcer’s voice came out of a speaker under the billboard. "Kristy Thomas: the Lady of Intergalactic Softball's press conference at the Civic Arena will start in ten minutes!"
Frey took off running at a fast clip. “She’s alive!!”
It took The Doctor another moment before he could get his feet moving and then he was on Frey’s heels.
The water was so cold, it shocked her system and she couldn’t move for a moment. Not that she could, with the massive tentacle wrapped around her ankle, tightening its grip by the nano second.
Finally able to act, she forced her fingers into her pocket and struggled to get out her pocket knife. She stabbed viciously at the tentacle and it loosened its hold long enough so she could kick to the surface. But of course there were more tentacles and she fought and fought as hard as she could, sometimes getting to the surface.
Her son needed her. She had to get to her son.
One of the monsters had sharp teeth and had grazed her badly along her front. Her t-shirt was in two flaps but still she fought to get away, though she was getting more and more tired.
When she had made The Doctor promise to look after Frey, she’d given up and allowed the things to take her to her doom.
So she was startled to wake up much later in a hospital bed, an IV drip in her arm.
“Hey!” she said weakly and then with more force, “HEY!”
A nurse popped her head in. “Oh, you’re awake! How nice.”
“Where’s The Doctor?” Kristy demanded. “I need to see him and my son.”
“The doctor’s with another patient but once he’s done I’ll be sure-”
“No, not a doctor doctor! My doctor! My… husband!” So she was lying, but he could very well be her husband. It hurt that he’d never asked but that didn’t mean he loved her any less.
“All right,” the nurse said, trying to soothe her with her gentle tone. It wasn’t working. “There’s a gentleman in the waiting room, I’ll go get him for you.”
Kristy sagged with relief. “Good. I want- I need to see him.”
The nurse patted her arm and bustled out of the room.
God, every bit of her ached. Especially her upper torso. And her face. She touched her cheek and was shocked to find stitching. The bastards had cut her face open! Looking down her hospital gown, she gasped to see all the ugly red stitching over her chest and stomach. They’d really done a number on her.
“Ahem.” She looked up expecting The Doctor but jolted in surprise at who she saw instead.
“Gil?” she asked in disbelief.
“Hey, Kris.” He cautiously crossed to her bedside. “How do you feel?”
“Like shit,” she said bluntly. “Why are you here? Where’s The Doctor?”
“I don’t know where The Doctor is; I didn’t see him. But, um. I’m the one who found you.” Gil shifted awkwardly.
“Found me?” Kristy repeated stupidly.
“Yeah. Uh, one of the underground tourist activities is letting old, rich guys come and hunt the sea monsters. I was on the crew of the ship that found the pod attacking you.”
“Oh.” Kristy stared down at her hands. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Gil smiled at her. “So, you’re uh… still with The Doctor?”
She nodded. “Is my cellphone anywhere? I need to call him to let him know I’m okay.”
Gil looked even more uncomfortable. “Kristy… your cellphone was destroyed out there in the water. There’s no way it survived. Do you have the TARDIS number or-?”
“No, it doesn’t work like that!” Kristy snapped. “It was programmed into my phone! I just push the button and I can talk to him! There’s no number, you moron!!”
“Okay, you need to calm down,” Gil said firmly, trying to touch her arm but she slapped him away.
“Don’t touch me! I don’t need you touching me! I need The Doctor! And Frey! I need them! I don’t need-” But what she needed got lost in her frenzy of sobbing, burying her face into her hands.
Gil wrapped a comforting arm around her. “Is Frey your son?” he asked gently.
“Yes,” Kristy moaned. “My little boy. H-he’s only six! He needs me!”
“I’ll help you find them,” Gil promised.
“Thank you so much,” Kristy sobbed and buried her face in his chest.
They’d had to ask an elderly man where the civic center was and now they stood outside it, along with thousands of other people, all buzzing with excitement at the chance to see Kristy Thomas herself.
Frey looked worriedly at the security people. “We’re never going to get in.”
“Never?” The Doctor gave his son’s shoulder a shake. “Don’t you know by now who you’re dealing with?” He pushed through the people to the first security guard he saw, and held up his psychic paper. “Press, good man! I need to get through here with my son!”
The guard took the paper and looked at it suspiciously. “Son?”
“He found out I was supposed to attend this press conference and he got so excited, I didn’t have the heart to force him to go to school,” The Doctor said, patting Frey’s head.
The guard’s frown softened into a smile. “Yeah, I used to get my kid into these things when he was little. Look at ‘im.” He nodded at Frey, chuckling. “Stars in his eyes.”
“Yes, he’s been looking forward to this for a long time,” The Doctor said. He grinned at Frey as the guard waved them through the entrance.
“Intergalactic softball?” Kristy said, skeptically.
“Yeah!” Gil said encouragingly. “They’re forming a league now! You should try out; I’ll bet you’d make it.”
“I don’t know.” Kristy sighed. “Am I really ready for that?”
Gil gave her a look. “You’ve been playing softball everyday for the last six months as physical therapy. I think you’re ready.”
“But… those uniforms.” She made a face.
“Yeah, they’re skimpy, but-” Gil turned a little red. “You have an amazing body. You could do it.”
Kristy blushed as well. “Um. I-I’ll give it a shot. I don’t think I’ll make it, though.”
By the end of the afternoon, she was made pitcher of the Aquatica Sirens.
Up on a stage was a long table with little name cards that told the press where each team member would be sitting. The Doctor scanned them and in the middle he saw “Kristy Thomas.” His hearts started to pound. The moment he’d been waiting four years for was seconds away. He didn’t think he could handle the excitement.
“Ladies and gentleman of the press,” a big voice boomed, “THE AQUATICA SIRENS!”
A line of women strode proudly from the wings, some beautiful, some large, some short, some hard, but The Doctor only had eyes for Kristy. She looked much the same, but had a long scar along the left side of her face. And she was dressed in a yellow silk dress and expensive looking shoes she never would’ve worn in the past.
She took her seat and scanned the room with a bored, detached air. There were so many people here, calling her name. How was he going to get her attention?
Kristy did every bit of publicity offered to her. She didn’t care about the money or attention, but she figured if she made a big enough name for herself, The Doctor would hear of her and come find her.
So she allowed action figures, baseball cards, billboards, commercial spots, even a photoshoot in a men’s magazine. She’d had to autograph millions of copies of that issue, and the photospread had resulted in her winning Most Desired Female award. It was embarrassing and a little annoying, especially when she didn’t care how she spent her money and left it to Gil, who’d become her manager.
He designed a ridiculous, ostentatious house for her near the water. She hated the water. The house had three pools, which just proved Gil didn’t have any sensitivity at all. He said she needed to get over her fear but she’d get over it in her own damn time, without him.
Maybe when The Doctor found her.
But with every year that passed, her hope of this happening grew smaller and smaller.
“Kristy! Kristy! Is it true you’re going to star in a feature film based on your life?”
“Kristy! Will you be recording an album?”
“Kristy, inquiring minds want to know: Is there a new man in your life?”
The Doctor felt Frey tugging on his arm and looked down at him. “Lift me up!”
“What?”
“Just lift me up, dad!”
Startled by his child’s snarling tone, The Doctor scooped his son up and lifted him above his head.
“Mummy!” Frey bellowed, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Mummy!”
It worked. Kristy looked at them in confusion and then her features cleared into a look of sublime joy. “Frey?!”
The press people around them fell silent, staring at Frey and The Doctor.
Frey started to cry and held his arms out to her. “Mummy!”
“Oh, jellybean!” Kristy leapt over the table, off the stage, and ran to them, the press milling out of the way so she didn’t have to shove through the crowd to get to them.
The Doctor set Frey on his feet and he ran to meet Kristy halfway. She fell to her knees in front of him and pulled him to her chest. “Oh, my sweet little Frey! My jelly bean! I’ve missed you so much!”
“Mummy,” Frey cried as she kissed him all over his face. Crying herself, she hugged the boy tightly and looked up at The Doctor.
"... I can't believe that you're here. I've been waiting and waiting..." Kristy took a shuddering breath.
"But... you were dead,” The Doctor said, weakly.
"Mostly dead. Not... all dead. Gil found me."
“Oh, Gil.” He jerked in surprise. “Wait, Gil Gil?”
She waved over her shoulder at Gil, who was watching this scene looking a little grim faced. "Yeah. Apparently he was on holiday here and just happened to be nearby when... yeah."
“Well, that’s lucky,” The Doctor said, still stunned.
“It was very lucky.” She smoothed Frey’s hair, smiling at her son. “I’m so glad you got him to safety.”
"Yeah, I, I'm glad I had him by my side, or else I wouldn't have been able to go on." The Doctor cleared his throat, not wanting to cry in front of this large group of people.
"I've missed both of you so much..." Kristy held her hand out to him.
He took it. "And we've missed you."
Kristy rose to her feet, still hugging Frey to her with one arm. "Are you going to kiss me any time soon?"
"Well, I thought I might sneak one in there when you weren't look--" He dove in for the kiss and she giggled, cupping the back of his neck.
“My sweet Doctor,” she sighed.
“My Kristy,” he breathed against her lips. “My darling dearheart.”
She shuddered a little at that. "Please call me that every day. I've missed hearing it."
“Oh, I intend to,” he said throatily.
Gil had come down off the stage and stood near them. He cleared his throat to get their attention. “So, um. Should I announce your retirement?”
“Retire-? No.” Kristy shook her head. “A hiatus. I need time to reconnect with my family.”
“Are you going to be able to leave all this behind?” The Doctor asked.
“Leave all what behind?” she asked, only having eyes for him.
"Oh, the celebrity life. The fancy vehicles, cover of magazines...your own billboard,” he gently teased.
"Mmm, I didn't have my Doctor or Gallifrey so I could never really enjoy it."
His face softened. "That's true, you really couldn't, could you? Do you need help packing?"
"I don't need to bring anything with me unless... Yeah, you probably got rid of my stuff, huh?"
"Of course not. We've kept it all. Every hat, every ponytail holder, every sock without a mate."
“You did?” Kristy asked, touched by that.
“Yes.”
She cupped his face, melting at the love she saw in his eyes when suddenly she gasped. "Oh my god, my family thinks I'm dead. Was there a funeral??"
The Doctor looked guilty. "Umm, actually... about that... Frey and I, well, we haven't been back to visit, so they don't know."
"They don't... well, don't you think they may have had a right to know?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Well yes, I was just putting it off... and besides, whenever I'd gained the courage to tell them, I could go back in time to right after I'd lost you to give them the news,” he said sheepishly.
"So they haven't seen Frey in four years, either." She looked sad. "They must be thinking the worst anyway."
“Then Earth will be our first stop,” The Doctor promised, taking her hand.
She smiled at him and taking Frey’s hand, she walked between the two most important men in her life among the flashes of cameras and excited shouting from the people surrounding them.
Frey took up every second of Kristy’s time since getting on the TARDIS to excitedly tell her of all the happenings since she’d disappeared. He’d only got through a fourth of the adventures before he started to get sleepy and she tucked him in, marveling at how big he’d gotten.
Then she and The Doctor were alone for the first time in years. They stood shyly across from each other in their bedroom.
“Hi,” Kristy said softly.
“Hello,” The Doctor murmured. He beckoned to her and she went to him like a sleepwalker and he wrapped his arms around her, starting to nuzzle her neck. “You look so beautiful.”
“No, I don’t.” She ducked her head, ashamed of her scars. They weren’t the bright red they had been, but had faded to pink. The Doctor said in a few years they’d fade further to white.
“Yes, you do.” He lifted her chin and stared into her eyes. “You’re every bit as beautiful as you were the day I first met you.”
Wanting to test him, she stepped out of his embrace and unzipped her dress, letting it fall around her feet. She ran her hands over the scars that criss crossed over her skin. “What about these?”
“Beautiful,” he said throatily. “They show that you’ve survived.”
She blinked back tears. “I love you.”
“Oh, I love you too, darling dearheart.”
They fell to the bed and The Doctor spent long, exquisite moments kissing every single scar and then they were struggling to get the rest of his clothes off and he was poised to enter her when they stared into each other’s eyes.
“You’re my whole world,” Kristy said, tears spilling. “I can’t lose you again.”
“You won’t,” he swore and entered her slowly. He grit his teeth against thrusting hard, seeing the look of pain on her face. It had been a long time since they’d done this last.
He kept his thrusts as gentle as he could and Kristy clutched at him, calling his name. This was a million times better than any re-lived memory, feeling her hot breath on his neck, the sweat building up between them. Knowing that this was real.
She quaked beneath him and the intensity of her orgasm brought him over the edge as well and he slumped on top of her.
“My girl pillow,” he muttered, nuzzling her temple sleepily.
“Mmmm, boy blanket,” she purred and held him close. “We have to do this every day.”
“Count on it.” He went to sleep with a smile on his face, Kristy gently stroking his hair and humming softly in his ear.
< Chapter Sixteen - Alternate Los Angeles : Chapter Eighteen - A Wedding and a Funeral >
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Date: 2007-07-03 12:20 am (UTC)*cough* Not that I have a big ego about it or anything. *cough*
;)
*smooshes Kristy and Ten together*
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Date: 2007-07-03 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2007-07-04 03:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-04 10:15 am (UTC)She's ALIVE!!!!!
....But....
Never mind! She's ALIVE!!!!
*flails*
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Date: 2007-07-05 01:39 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2007-07-31 06:39 am (UTC)She's alive. Woot! Only you two could pull it off. :D
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Date: 2007-07-31 06:43 am (UTC)