who_contest | Ten Months from December 30th, 1999

Title: Ten Months from December 30th, 1999
Rating: PG
Genre: Character Study
Word Count: 420
Pairings or Characters: Grace Holloway, Eigth Doctor
Spoilers: Set after The TV Movie
Warnings: None
Summary: In hindsight, the choices always feel different.

Occasionally, Grace has dreams of going on adventures through space, with that man called the Doctor.

In her dreams, she faces giant silver men, and travels to worlds where gravity isn't the same, and sees wonders that are almost undefinable.

Alongside her is the strange man with the luscious hair, and the frock coat, and the mysterious smile. He's always whizzing about, trying to savor every moment at the same time. For most people, that would be an oxymoron, but for the Doctor, it makes perfect sense. After the first day they met, in the hospital, she thought he couldn't surprise her any further. But (in the dream), he always finds a way to keep her guessing. Sometimes he can be insufferable, especially when he's gotten his mind set on stepping into some trouble or other, and Grace really doesn't want to get thrown into yet another dungeon. The Doctor's insistence that “Dungeons aren't that bad, when you get used to them” doesn't really help.

Mind you, Grace can't remember all the details of her dreams. Sometimes all she can recall are images of three-headed unicorns, and futuristic humans with sparkly spandex suits, and the sounds of her laugh echoing in the TARDIS after the Doctor made a joke. Sometimes she can't even remember the dream, but she still knows she's had it, because of the feeling of sudden loss—like she just went on a really good vacation, and was forced to go back.

Not that she dislikes her life. Grace is a great doctor, who is responsible for the health of countless people every single day. She's gotten rewards in her life that some people couldn't get if they had five lives, and she really couldn't be happier.

However, when she sees those old blue police boxes, the type they don't really use anymore, her heart races. She can't stop herself. And she remembers how, on December 30 1999, she met a man unlike any other, and would learn how the world was so much bigger than she knew.

And then she walked away from that world. In the late hours of the night, when she's nearly asleep, she sometimes wonders why she walked away. Was it fear? Or maybe responsibility to the world she knew? (After all, she has an important job on Earth.)

Again, it's not that she's regretful or anything. Grace just wonders, every now and then, whether the exhilaration she feels from the dreams are a clue that, perhaps, she made the wrong choice.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

angelus2hot

I don't know the characters (I haven't made it passed Nine and have only watched the first four episodes of the first season of Classic Who) but this was wonderful!! Beautifully written!

I love how it wasn't really regret but just wondering.

gallif-migrant.livejournal.com

Thank you! How do you like Nine?

You're welcome! I absolutely adore Nine! I didn't think I would but he won me over in a matter of minutes. :D

I got won over to Who the same way with my favorite Doctor (Eleven at the time, now supplanted by Twelve.) And Nine's a great Doctor. He's rather unique, in a few ways.

Since you're a Nine fan, would you please read this fic of mine? It's a short Nine fic, and it doesn't have any spoilers. If you read, please review!

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11698266/1/Black

roseglade.livejournal.com

Wow ... this is great! Even though I have never seen a single episode of Eight, this makes me want to watch him so bad!!

By the way, what's Eight like?

That's a tricky question. Eight started in only one movie, then he was characterized in the books, and then he got slightly different characterization in the audios, and then a slightly different characterization in the comics. If you go with the "it's all canon" theory about Who, it means Eight's had quite the character development when it's all put together.

Nevertheless, let me see if I can piece together some common elements. He's one of the most optimistic of the Doctors, preferring to see the best in people. He's (intentionally) dislikes the manipulative (master planner) characteristics that other Doctors go for, preferring to let events take their course. He's sometimes rather hyperactive, sometimes going from event to event randomly, often to the annoyance of companions. He loves traveling for the fun of it, and he'll jump headfirst into an adventure, often without thinking out the full implications or dangers of what he's doing. (Indeed, the best writers of Eight know how to take that carefree quality and show how it can be just as dangerous as the manipulative qualities of other Doctor.) Eight is also the Doctor who most worries with the morality of what he does, sometimes to obsessive levels.

And more than any other Doctor before him, Eight wants to be put the struggles of his past regenerations behind him. He wants this life to be peaceful, to be a truly new life free of pain. And that's why the New Series is so ironic--because as you know, it reveals means that Eight sadly ended up being involved in the biggest war ever.

Well, this ended up being a big infodump. I hope it wasn't too much.

No, that's amazing! Now I really want to watch Eight! Thanks for the insight. I really appreciate it!

paynesgrey.livejournal.com

I really really love this. You really nail Grace's character and I love the idea of her dreams of being with the Doctor. Great job!

Thanks. It's hard to nail down the character of someone who I only saw in one movie.

dancingdragon3.livejournal.com

This was great! I too, am unfamiliar with the movie Doctor, but you make him sound very dashing. You made me feel like I know Grace, and feel bad for the lingering doubt in her heart. But you also made me want to watch the movie, so cheers for that!