An Original Vampire's Guide to the Universe (Rewrite)

Fires of Pompeii

Tyra stepped out of the Tardis after the Doctor and Donna and immediately recoiled at all the people and the noise around her. Her fingers were itching to pet Loki but according to the Doctor, she had to leave him in the Tardis for this. She didn't even know why. They had dogs in Ancient Rome already but the Doctor made sure that Loki would stay behind, already stressing Tyra out before she even left the Tardis.

"Ancient Rome," the Doctor exclaimed before gesturing around "Well, not for them, obviously. To all intents and purposes, right now, this is brand new Rome."

Donna looked around with wide eyes "Oh, my God. It's – it's so Roman. This is fantastic." The Doctor let out a small laugh at her enthusiasm and looked over at her when she continued "I'm here, in Rome. Donna Noble in Rome. This is just weird. I mean, everyone here's dead."

"Well, don't tell them that," the Doctor mumbled, looking over at Tyra who still hadn't moved away from the Tardis. Disappointment coiled through his chest at her expression. He knew that he should have let her have Loki with her... That was what the dog was for after all but he wanted her to try and cope without him. Maybe it was too soon but he felt like he at least wanted her to try. It had already been close to a month since they dropped off Jack and Martha, so maybe he was right in taking this step. Tyra had been doing so much better recently and she even left the Tardis on her own to see her brother... That must count for something, right? But the look on her face made him doubt his decision.

"Hold on a minute," Donna exclaimed, whirling around to level a glare at the Doctor "That sign over there's in English. Are you having me on? Are we in Epcot?"

The Doctor turned away from watching Tyra for a moment, shaking his head "No, no, no. That's the Tardis translation circuits. Just makes it look like English. Speech as well. You're talking Latin right now."

"Seriously?" Donna gaped.

"Hm," the Doctor nodded, reaching out for the Tardis door to call for Loki.

Donna raised her hand to her mouth "I just said seriously in Latin... What if I said something in actual Latin? Like veni, vidi, vici? My dad said that when he came back from football. If I said veni, vidi, vici to that lot, what would it sound like?"

The Doctor blinked at her for a moment before he shrugged "I'm not sure," he mused "You have to think of difficult questions, don't you?"

Donna rolled her eyes at him "I'm going to try it." With that, she hurried off, leaving the Doctor and Tyra standing by the Tardis.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked, reaching out to touch Tyra's shoulder.

She flinched away from his hand, turning her face away "I'm fine," Tyra mumbled, wrapping her arms around her stomach.

The Doctor sighed and opened the Tardis door to find Loki already waiting, staring up at him. He winced when the feeling of annoyance and disappointment hit him like a sledgehammer but he chose not to mention it, feeling guilty enough as it was. Tyra had been doing so well up till now. Ever since they brought Loki onto the Tardis, so it hurt to see her taking steps in the wrong direction again. While he knew that recovery wasn't a straight line – that there were moments where it gets worse before it gets better – he wished that Tyra didn't have to go through this "Come on," he murmured, bending down to pick Loki up, checking on the collar he was already wearing.

"What are you doing?" Tyra asked, watching the Doctor in confusion.

"I... I was wrong," the Doctor admitted quietly, letting Loki go to hand Tyra his leash "I shouldn't have made you go out without him if you don't feel comfortable."

Tyra clenched the leash in her hand and shrugged "It's fine."

The Doctor shook his head "No, it's not. If I make you do things that you're uncomfortable with, tell me. I don't want you to hurt because of me."