ignite ➝ Doctor Who¹

XIX

"I didn't know you were religious." The 'couple' stood before a gravestone, the woman trying to engrave the words upon it into memory. She knew that she wouldn't be able to visit frequently, it would hurt too much.

"I'm not, not really. But after my dad found- well- after my dad she started buying all the religious books she could find. Where she still had some mobility, she went to this chapel. She tried to find a reason that she went through all that she did, the first and only stop was religion."

"You never believed it?"

"No. Maybe for a while I used it to avoid what actually happened. But for all the bad in my mother's life there was very little good so it was obvious that there was no all-loving higher power. The truth hurts but at least it's real. My father was a terrible, horrible, manipulative person and my mum was unlucky. That's all it was, can't look into it any deeper." She looked away from the gravestone, out towards the car park.

"Are you okay?"

"Can we go home. I have to sort out my apartment then we can go. I can't stay here anymore, please just take me off into the stars as if nothing is wrong. Lie to me and tell me everything will be okay in the end." He takes her face into his hands, looking down at her with an emotion that she never got to place.

"Everything will be okay in the end. And that is something I promise, I'll make it true, okay." She nods and takes his hands, leading them away from her mother's final resting place. Feeling a weight lift from her shoulders now that she knows nothing is tying her to this planet.

They walked to a bus stop, hand in hand but silent as the Doctor gave her some space. She needed to fill the silence and asked him about what he got up to without her. She just listened to him talk, on the bus ride home, pitching in here and there with what she predicted would happen and her reactions to what he said.

Before she knew it, they were home, and the Doctor was pushing open her front door, still talking to her. Hanging up her coat and taking off her shoes, she went straight to the kitchen. She put on the kettle before pulling on her washing up gloves, doing her best to clear away all the dirty dishes so that they wouldn't be here if she came back.

"Are you sure you're okay Penelope?"

"I will be when I'm in the TARDIS. I don't want to stay here. Just going to clean it a little so that I feel less guilty and I don't just randomly remember 'you've still got dishes in the sink' as I'm running for my life." He laughs a little and leans on the counter next to the kettle.

"You do have a point."

"Thank you for coming, Doctor. I don't think I could've done this without you. At the very least it was fun to see Ryan finally listen." She puts the last glass on the side and turns to look at him properly, seeing that he had started to dry up for her, but wasn't sure where everything went. She pulls off the gloves and takes the glass, putting it in the right place. They worked together, Penelope putting away what the Doctor dried and they got done a lot quicker than if she had been doing it alone.

Everything was away and she took a moment to clean up her bedroom and front room, feeling like she can't leave until it's all clean. Even though no one else should be coming through here. The Doctor takes her hand as she stands in the hallway to the door.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah. Let's go see the stars."