Ten Months from December 30th, 1999

[gallif-migrant.livejournal.com]

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.