ashes ➝ Doctor Who²

XXXII

"You are not alone. Keep me hidden."
- The Watch, Human Nature

It had been two months since Penelope had first bumped into John, and he seemed intent on keeping them together. He started walking her home from the school, despite the fact that he lived there and it was some trek back in the dark. And at some point he had started meeting her halfway to walk her to the library.

All of this made it very hard to deny that she enjoyed being with him. She hadn't intended to stay this long, but now she couldn't bring herself to leave John behind. Of course it would be her to fall in love almost a century out of her own time, and to a man with the Doctor's face.

She sat in his room, reading quietly as he had insisted they eat together. There was a commotion outside the door and she closed the book, listening intently. There was the quiet hum of a woman's voice and Penelope bristled slightly.

Closing the book, she stood and tried to pretend she was just interested in what was taking John so long, not whoever he was talking to.

Pulling the door open, Joan stood there. The nurse who sometimes scolded the boys for getting hurt and refusing to treat them. Which is why they came to Penelope in the first place. It's not been much of a secret that Penelope doesn't like her.

Nor has it been hidden at all how often John and Penelope were found talking behind closed doors which led to whispers of them doing something else behind those doors. They hadn't explicitly said nothing was going on with them yet, purely because that was a lie. Either way, almost everyone in the school knew about the two and the time they spent together.

So either Joan is a bit thick or trying to get pushed down the stairs.

John looked relieved to see Penelope, which helped her nerves that she wasn't being led by him as he spent time with Joan as well. She wasn't even sure how that would work as the man seemed to spend all of his time either in class or with her.

"Ah, Joan. How have you been?"

"Penelope." John carefully takes a step towards the ginger woman, leaning against the doorframe behind her, as the two women glared it out.

"You ready to eat now, love?" John's face lit up red as Penelope turned to take his hand and lead him into his room, shutting the door in Joan's face. Although it wasn't until they sat down at the table and Penelope had to deal with John's love stricken face that she realised what exactly she had done.

A faint blush settled over her face, feeling a little foreign as she hadn't felt like this for months on end. He coughed a little and she finally turned to look at him.

"So.. you're not overly fond of Joan then."

"Not really, she picks on some of the boys and doesn't know when she's not wanted." He looked at her softly, smiling wide. It's almost like he remembers something for a moment, his eyes glancing quickly back towards the door.

"She said something about the annual dance at the village hall just then." Penelope opened her book, rolling her eyes in the process, a small gesture that John adores.

"Probably inviting you to it, no doubt." In her head Penelope calls her all sorts of names that would likely get her fired.

"Yes, well I was thinking of going, not with her of course. But not.. alone either." He was quiet after that, just staring at her closely, adoration floating between the two. Penelope was hardly aware, having been sucked back into her book again.

She looked up, finding him staring at her, and it seemed to hit her in that moment. "Oh! You mean with me?" He laughs a little, having grown used to her sometimes missing when he sent hints her way.

"Of course with you, who else?" Her mind went blank, for the first time in a while she truly had nothing to say, and John could see this. He put his hand over hers, something the both of them had become accustomed to. "I can wait for an answer?"

"No." She watched his face fall and realised how he took that, quickly reaching for his other hand, pulling him close. "I mean, no, you don't have to wait. Of course I'll go with you."

He grins wide, pulling them both out of the seats and into a hug, half spinning her around in glee. Penelope laughed into his chest, holding onto him tight. They stood back a little, still in each other's arms and faces tinged red.

"Thank god, you really scared me there."

"Please John, as if I would've actually said no." It was a serene quiet that floated around the room as she looked up at him.

The space between them seemed to get smaller as Penelope's chest tightened, watching him get closer to her. But she couldn't wipe the giddy smile off her face. After everything she had been through, who would've thought she could find happiness in a history teacher in 1913. She could feel his steady breath on her lips and her heart jumped.

Though there was a knock at the door that stopped them both. John sighing and resting his forehead on hers, looking into her eyes and knowing he matched her disappointment.

"Sorry sir, but we need Miss McCrimmon."

"I'll be out in a moment." She didn't want to leave him here, not right now. God can't she just have a few minutes for herself in this stupid Universe.

"Please Miss, it's important."

"Alright, alright. I'm coming." Reluctantly she pulled herself from John's arms, feeling colder the further back she went.

Watching her up her books in relative silence, he hoped that she still knew she.. well that she was everything to him.

Slowly she went to exit the room before stopping, as if to contemplate something, before quickly placing the books down and turning to face him. Face burning up to her ears as she walked back to him.

She balanced herself with a hand on his chest and she leaned up and pressed a kiss on his cheek, hardly able to breathe when she looked at him again.

"I can't wait for tomorrow John."

With that she left, John still smiling widely, face getting redder the more he thought about her. And he, too, found himself wishing that it was already tomorrow.