Child of the Doctor

Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Ayla POV

I startle awake when I heard the Doctor knock on my door.

"Ayla" I hear him call my name.

"Come in" I respond, my voice cracking due to still being half asleep.

He enters the room. 'I don't want to deal with him right now, argh. I just want to sleep'.

"Ayla, how are you feeling? Are you alright?" he asks me worried.

"I'm fine. Still sleeping" I respond, groaning. I can feel him hesitate next to my bed, so I open my eyes, and he looks run down. 'What happened to him?'

"Doctor, what have you been up to? You look terrible" I ask him, still looking at his state of dress and he smells like smoke.

"Just after Martha left, and went into the time vortex, I forgot to put the TARDIS shields up and basically, my fifth generation and I's TARDIS' merged and we nearly destroyed the world but that's alright, it was fixed but then there was a space titanic that crashed into the TARDIS this time" he tells me really fast. I can tell he doesn't really want to talk about it.

"Well alright. If that's all...?" I say, trying to get him to leave so I can go back to sleep.

"You've been asleep for over twenty-four hours. You have to come eat" he says.

My face probably said it all. "Twenty-four hours?! Are you sure?" I ask him.

He chuckles at me, "Yes, I'm sure. Now get out of bed lazy bones. You have to eat something"

He goes to the kitchen while I take a quick shower. I was still sleeping in my clothes from the day Martha left, I get dressed in pyjamas and head out to the kitchen.

The Doctor sets a bowl of vegetable soup in front of me. 'This is new' I think.

The Doctor still can't hear my thoughts. I still have the bracelet on that the Doctor adjusted. As much as I want the bond to be back to normal, I can't risk it again. If the Doctor tries to send me back to stasis, I have to have a way to get away from him, without the desire to return immediately.

"I'm sorry" the Doctor speaks up.

"What?" I ask confused.

"I'm sorry for putting you through all this. You feel as if you can't trust me anymore and I understand that. I want you to know that I'm sorry" the Doctor says.

"How do you know I don't trust you?" I ask, 'Can he read my mind again? Am I that obvious?' I think.

"You've been avoiding me. I know you slept most of the time, but you sent Martha to basically tell me to stay away. And you have been avoiding any physical contact. I don't think you even realize how much you do it. Earlier, when I tried to touch your shoulder, you leaned away from me. You even chose a seat that is the furthest away from me. When we left Jack in Cardiff, you stayed at Martha and Jack's side more".

"Oh" I respond dumbly. 'It's true. He broke my trust. He used to be my place of comfort, but now it's a place of hurt'

"Yeah" he says uncomfortable, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why did you send me into stasis?" I ask, confronting him with the very topic I wanted to avoid. 'It's now or never'.

"I did it to protect you. When I realized you were in danger, I had to send you away from it. You are still a tot, and I can't lose you. I made a choice. I don't regret taking you away from danger"

"I understand. But then you left me in there for who knows how long!" I respond angrily.

He looks defeated. "I know. I know. I left you there because I thought you would be safer. And you were"