When the Sun Sets ☼ Eleven x Reader

XV - Darling

And so that's what happened. Your adventures with Kazran and Abigail continued for many years- as far as they were concerned.

'So!' the Doctor had said once the two of you had left Kazran. 'How does next Christmas sound?'

'Next Christmas?'

'This is a time machine, darling, and time waits for no man!' he pauses. 'Well. Except me, I guess.'

As was now routine with the Doctor, he flicked a few switches on the control panel, and you grabbed hold of the railings quickly as the TARDIS dematerialised.

The next few Christmases- however consecutively they took place for you and the Doctor- were some of the best you had ever experienced. Even compared with your childhood- huddled under the Christmas Tree with Rory and your parents unwrapping various presents and presenting them proudly to everyone else in the room. It seemed that even in the short time you'd known the Doctor, he felt more like family than anyone else.

It was only after a few 'years' that your Christmases shifted slightly. Kazran must have been about sixteen by now, and- as he had aimed to do all those years ago- he had caught Abigail's eye. You gave the Doctor a slight smirk when you opened the cryochamber and she greeted Kazran instead of the Doctor for the first time.

'Sorry Doctor,' you said. 'I think you might have been knocked off the top spot here.'

'Ah, well. He deserves it more than I do.' he smiles. 

Throughout the years, you'd requested travel to every Christmas you could think of. Experiencing the festive season across the different time periods- past and future- was something you could never have dreamed of, but Abigail's excitement faltered a little more every year. You'd never asked her why.

It was this Christmas she'd requested this year- and that's how you found out what was wrong with Abigail. Her family. The people you'd met what seemed like forever ago in Mr Sardick's living room and who loved Abigail more than anyone hadn't been able to see her while you monopolised her fleeting time. Watching her outside the window of her family home was something that made you reflect. In this adventure with Kazran, you'd almost completely forgotten about Amy and Rory, stuck up on the starliner that was ready to crash into Earth at any point. It was hard to think that you had less than an hour, yet fifty years to stop it. Time travel never got easier to understand.

'Abigail's crying.' Kazran says to the Doctor. The three of you had stepped away from her to give her a moment of peace while she saw her family through the frosted window.

'Yes.'

'When girls are crying, are you supposed to talk to them?'

'I have absolutely no idea.' the Doctor replies, almost looking to you for guidance on the subject. 'I've never been much good with talking to girls.'

'Oh come here.' you say, pulling down on Kazran's collar as you had done when he was younger. 'There. Now, she's not ugly crying yet so she probably won't mind you being there. Go talk to her. Slow speaking, occasional rub of the shoulder. Okay?'

You tap Kazran encouragingly on the shoulder, and send him towards Abigail.

'What do we do now?' the Doctor asks you.

'We leave them together. Bonds grow stronger when you've got only each other for company.'

'Is that so?' the Doctor says, in a way you'd hardly seen him act before. It wasn't his normal enthusiasm, but something a little more serious. When you looked up towards him, it looked as if he was scrutinising every inch of your face. 'Do you miss them?' he continues.