MEMORIES | {1st - Stars Themselves Series}

The Stolen Earth (2)

A/N- unedited yet again, so sorry for any mistakes! Comments mean a lot, especially ones on certain paragraphs (like reacting whilst reading)

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The time rotor stops wheezing.

"It's stopped," The Doctor realises and Poppy peers over his shoulder

"What do you mean? Is that good or bad? Where are we?" Donna asks rapidly

"The Medusa Cascade. I came here when I was just a kid, ninety years old. It was the centre of a rift in time and space,"

Poppy would normally ask about the fact that 90 is him being a child. But now wasn't the time. She was staring at the monitor where a beautiful sight was before her. But she couldn't appreciate it when she didn't see the planets.

"So, where are the twenty-seven planets?" Donna asks impatiently

"Nowhere. The Tandocca Trail stops dead. End of the line," Poppy looks up to The Doctor in fear. She knew he had given up. He'd given up on her planet, the only home she's ever known, the only family she can remember.

Donna begs The Doctor to help. Asks him what they do repeatedly. But he never responds "You never give up. Please,"

Poppy feels a sudden anger wash over her. She'd never heard Donna so upset, and he wasn't helping

"Listen here," she turns to the Doctor "I get you're upset. You don't know where Rose is, you don't know where the earth is. And both those things mean a lot to you. But we," Poppy gestures to her and Donna "we've just lost our home, our family, our everything. I know you understand that," Poppy referring Galifray snaps The Doctor's head to look at her "now is not the bloody time to give up,"

"I'm sorry," The Doctor chokes out

Poppy rolls her eyes and sits on the jump seat with her legs crossed. Waiting. Not quite sure what for, but she was waiting.

The Doctor looked to her in dejection. He felt suddenly protective over her after The Library with River, and watching her fight back tears because her planet was gone hurt more than Rose being gone. That scared him.

A sudden ringing breaks everyone out of their grief.

"Phone!" Poppy exclaims, The Doctor a second behind. He jumps up to grab it and Poppy follows eagerly.

"Martha, is that you?" No one responds but a beeping sound is coming out "It's a signal!"

"Can we follow it?"

"We bloody well better," Poppy mutters

"Oh, just watch me!" The Doctor reassures

"Got it. Locking on!" The TARDIS starts shaking and Poppy laughs in relief, The Doctor grabbing onto her waist as they both cling on to the console. The TARDIS literally sets on fire in certain places and starts making a banging noise.

"We're travelling through time! One second in the future, the phone call's pulling us through!"

"does that explain why I feel like we might explode!" Poppy shouts and Donna holds back a smile.

"Three, two, one!"

The trio scream as the planets pop into existence around them. The TARDIS finally stops shaking but the suddenness of it pushes Poppy into The Doctor's arms.

"Twenty-seven planets. And there's the Earth. But why couldn't we see them?" Donna questions, not realising her best friend in The Doctor's arms.

"You good?" he asks, staring down at her. Poppy doesn't respond for a few seconds before her brain starts working again