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Danni stretched as she woke up, totally rested and in the same place, which was a rather big luxury considering who she was with when she had finally fallen asleep. Although Eleven wasn't lying next to her now, she knew he was off in the TARDIS somewhere and not at another point in his time line. She climbed out of bed and put on her red pyjamas, smirking to herself over the memories of the night before and headed out. She hoped today wouldn't be a 'running' day. Just herself and her Theta spending some time together. Perhaps watching television, she hadn't sat down and watched a marathon of cartoons in what seemed like ages. If not, she'd probably end up reading while he argued with the TARDIS, demanding she let him fix her when the box obviously didn't feel broken.
"Doctor?" She called as she reached the top of the console room. No answer, how odd. She frowned and headed back into the hallway. She opened the first door she came to, sticking her head into the observatory; a telescope that appeared to be stood in the middle of a grass field, the TARDIS superimposing a star-filled sky on it's ceiling. It reminded her of what Hogwarts Great Hall was described like.
"Doctor?" She called again, but it was obvious that he wasn't in there either. Maybe she should read Harry Potter again. She continued in this fashion for a few more doors, finding the rose gardens and the karaoke bar before opening the door on the tool cupboard. She paused, staring into it blankly before stepping in. The room was just like a tool shed, all organised and ready to be used except for a small hacksaw in the middle of the floor. She walked over, crouching down to pick it up, looking over it thoughtfully.
~0~0~0~
Danni slammed the door shut, squeezing her eyes shut as the drumming finally became to loud for her to bear. She slid down the floor, head in hands as she tried to breathe slower, calm herself down and relieve at least some of the pressure in her head. She wanted Eleven, more than anything. Ten just didn't understand how much it hurt. And it did. It rang through her head like a never-ending marching drumbeat, like a band was playing right by her and she couldn't escape it. Ten tried to be sympathetic, but until he met with Rassilon he'd never understand what it was that was in her head, and because he never believed the Master, Danni always felt like he never believed her either.
The noise eventually subsided and she looked up, face red and covered in tears, and had to laugh at her surroundings. She was in what appeared to be a tool shed.
"He has tools?" She asked aloud, as if someone could answer her. Go figure, all this and he still tried to fix the TARDIS with the sonic screwdriver. She glanced over the contents, a mass of metal instruments she barely recognised mixed with the likes of hammers and even a crowbar. She double took as her gaze fell on a small saw, it's serrated edge glistening temptingly. She stood up and walked over to it, picking it up off of the wall and examining it closely. It was sharp.
Very sharp.
She ran her finger over the edge and it left a small cut on the tip, a small amount of blood pooling but not dripping. She'd only just cut the skin, but she hadn't been trying to do anything else. The drumming began beating purposefully again, as if encouraging her on. She lifted the saw and placed it against her left arm, just above the elbow and a good few inches away from the manipulator. She pushed it against her skin and dragged it across, leaving another small cut where it had been. That hadn't hurt too much. She did it again, this time pushing down harder until she felt it pulling, blood dripping out and down her arm as the drumming thumped in her brain, almost joyously. It loved what she was doing, she could tell. It always seemed to become almost happy when she was hurt, and in turn it didn't hurt her so much.
She briefly thought about waiting until she jumped to Eleven, but that could be ages away and she couldn't last much longer, she just needed to stay still. She took a deep breath, pushed down with all her strength and pulled, hard. She ground her teeth together at the pain, eyes closed as she tried to saw into her arm, crying out at the incredibly unpleasant sensation.
She just needed to stop jumping.
"What the hell are you doing?!" The Doctor screamed, running over and fighting the saw out of her grasp. She opened her eyes, to see Ten staring down at her imposingly and she flinched away at the anger in his face.
"I... I..." She stuttered, tears building up in her eyes and she turned to look at her arm. She gasped, her heart dropping as she saw just the small line in her arm, nothing more. All that effort, and she hadn't even penetrated past the first layer of skin. She grasped the cut and sobbed, falling to the floor, "I just don't want to jump anymore." She whispered. He took a deep breath, trying to force himself to calm. He knew she was ill and they'd just been arguing over the fact she missed being at Pompeii. His emotions had been running high and he'd taken it out on her. Again.
"I know." He bit out, "But this?" He waved the saw at her pointedly. She continued sobbing, grasping her arm. He sighed and sat next to her, yanking the hand away with some resistance from her and checked the area, "At least you haven't done any damage to yourself."
"I tried, it wouldn't cut." She mumbled sourly and he glared, hard.
"You stupid girl." He snapped before pulling her in for a hug, clinging to her tightly, "Don't you ever do anything like that again." he warned darkly.
"I don't want to go away. Please, please Theta don't make me go." She begged. He froze at the use of his name, she had only ever said it a couple of times before and each time it stunned him that she knew it. He took a deep breath, trying to suppress how happy he was that at some point he was close enough to tell her it, and rubbed her back soothingly.
"It'll be okay." He promised.
~0~0~0~
It hadn't been okay for while, but he'd really tried to help her through it. Danni was sure Ten had no idea how ill she'd been until that point, having dismissed the Valiant as something Koschei had done to her. And even with the threat of Manhattan looming over her like a dark cloud, her life really hadn't been this good in a while. She was with the man she loved, who loved her back. She was seeing friends she hadn't seen in a while, spending time just enjoying the universe rather than saving it.
"Danni?" She looked up and around to see Eleven there, reminding her when and where she was. He looked concerned, "I've been looking for you everywhere." He explained, stepping into the small cupboard.
"Remember this?" She asked in reply, holding the saw up to demonstrate, before turning back to look the many tools hanging on the walls, "I'd forgotten this room was even here." He walked over slowly, reaching down and gently removing it from her hands. She watched him look at it with a faraway look on his face, probably remembering the same moment she had but from his own perspective. He then reached over and hung it back on a little hook she hadn't even realised was empty. It must have been it's proper place.
"You terrified me." He admitted sadly, "If you could do that to yourself just over an argument, I was so worried what might have happened over something worse." She sighed, sitting on the floor with a thud.
"I've just come from Naithsmith's Mansion." She told him, missing his shocked look, "I still can't believe I'm never going to see him again. I mean, I knew it was coming. It's just so hard when it actually comes." She looked around at him, looking ashamed, "He told me that if I slept with him, he'd never have followed the signal. I didn't want to, so I said no. I was right to, wasn't I?" He didn't know how to answer that. He remembered every moment after he crashed through that ceiling, how she'd begged the Master not to go through with his plan, how the other Time Lord had told her he'd loved her and how it had visibly broken her heart. He remembered finding out that she'd been brought to his universe because the Time Lords had always suspected him of having the potential of destroying them all, and how much it had hurt.
She tilted her head, looking at him for a moment and deciding she didn't like the way his face held all the sadness of that day. Her face stretched into a beaming smile, one that surprised him and she jumped up off the floor.
"Take me somewhere awesome." She demanded comically, "I feel we haven't been somewhere awesome in at least two days." He laughed, nodding and spinning on the spot.
"You are quite correct, Danni-Girl!" He cheered, pulling her up against him, an idea immediately springing to mind, "I know just the place."
~0~0~0~
Danni had to admit Solas a Aois was absolutely stunning, even if she wasn't a fan of holiday resorts in general. The buildings were all painted a dazzlingly white, as clean as if it was the day they were painted but Ten had told her and Donna that it had been running for at least 50 years, so that can't have been true. The floor was paved with terracotta tiles and there was flowers and trees all around, most she didn't recognise but that just added to the feeling of being on holiday. There was wildlife running around, dashing through vacation goers as they headed to their hideaways and the air was full of the laughter of children, joined occasionally by the delighted screams of the passengers on the roller coaster in the funfair just off to one side of them. The complex really had everything, not just a fair but a large shopping district, an adventure/sport area, a spa, a food court, and more hotels than the Doctor had led her to believe it had. It was all encapsulated under a gigantic glass dome which shimmered in the light of the artificial sun on the outside of it. The Doctor had taken them to an ice cream parlour, a cute little shop in the shape of a squashed ice cream cone. It was full of people and they were stood at the back of a very long queue.
"Vanilla?" The Doctor exclaimed in disgust, "I bring you to a galaxy-class ice cream outlet with over 300 flavours and you go for vanilla?"
"I like vanilla." Danni defended, "There's nothing wrong with the classics."
"But it's so boring!" He whined and she rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip.
"Oh, and banana isn't?" Danni retorted.
"No it's not. Bananas are a good..." He started.
"...A good source of potassium, I know." Danni interrupted, "But it's no more adventurous than vanilla." He pouted as she turned to Donna, who wasn't even trying to hide her amusement of the pair, "What about you?"
"I'm not sure." She admitted, trying to see over the heads of the people in front of them, "I can't see the blooming menu. What was the fruit we tried? The blue one that looked a little bit like a mushroom?" The Doctor frowned in thought before checking the menu.
"The Nay-Nay fruit? I don't know if they have it, though." He told her as he stood on the tips of his toes so read through the menu. Thankfully it was in alphabetical order, which made finding their
"300 flavours and they don't have the one I want?" Donna grumbled, "Typical, that is. There is never anything I want."
"The Nay-Nay fruit?" Danni asked, having never heard of it, "What did it taste like?"
"A cross between Vimto and apples." Donna explained, "With a little bit of parsnip."
"Parsnip?" Danni stuck her tongue out; that sounded awful.
"It was strange but it really was nice." Donna insisted, feeling very passionate that her new favourite fruit was being dismissed. Danni stood on her tiptoes, looking at the menu as they inched ever closer to the counter.
"Well, I can't help you with parsnip." She stated, "But they have both apple and mixed berry flavour ice cream, why not have a scoop of each?"
"I don't know..." Donna murmured, "I might just go for Rocky Road..." She began scanning the menu, looking for the 'R' section when a very tall alien with a large head and skinny body stepped in front of her eye line, "Oi, Stilts, some of us are trying to read here!" She snapped. Danni pressed her lips together to stop the snort of laughter escaping while the Doctor looked quite alarmed. Luckily, the alien just stepped to one side, "Ah, there it is. Rocky Road, lovely."
~0~0~0~
"No vanilla?" Danni sulked as the very pretty sales assistant smiled apologetically at her.
"It's one of our most popular flavours, we'll be getting more in tomorrow." She promised and Danni smirked, looking up at the Doctor.
"Hear that? One of their most popular flavours. Told you it wasn't boring." She replied smugly, crossing her arms in victory.
"That only proves that there's lots of boring people." He retorted and she looked offended.
"Are you calling me boring, Spaceman?" She asked and his eyes widened in panic, Donna looking on, mirth dancing in her eyes as she started on her Rocky Road. She knew Danni knew exactly what she was doing, these were the times the regular Danni shone through. It was disconcerting, seeing her so happy one moment then her being so ill the next time she appeared, but seeing her tease the Doctor always reassured her that she would get better.
"No, no that's not what I'm saying." He backtracked and Danni rolled her eyes at him.
"Smooth." She drawled before turning back to the sales assistant, "Well, what else is popular?"
"Pine Tree is a very popular one." She replied, "As is the Firestorm."
"You mean you have Christmas Tree flavoured ice cream?" Danni replied in excitement and the woman nodded, "That'll do me just fine. And a Banana for Mr. Adventurous here." She motioned to the Doctor, who folded his arms in a pout. The woman smiled, also amused by the couple, and turned to get their ice creams. The Doctor paid, well, flashed his psychic paper that entitled them to free ice cream, and they turned to be on their way. Danni paused then turned back to the woman, "What's your name, sweetie?" She asked and the woman blinked in surprise.
"Serena, Miss." She answered. It was so rare that people cared who was serving them, it was a shock for someone to ask for her name.
"I'm Danni. It was nice to meet you."
~0~0~0~
Eleven and Danni headed down the beach front, hand in hand as they both devoured their ice cream with enthusiasm. They'd attempted to go on a lovely trip to a planet where the sky was purple and the flowers were beyond compare, but their calm trip had ended up with Danni being kidnapped by three-legged aliens while the Doctor tried to stop them killing the planet's population so they could get their hands on the soil underneath them.
"Great British Seaside, nothing beats it." The Doctor declared as they stopped by a railing to look out on the relatively calm sea in front of them.
"I've never been to Brighton before." She told him offhandedly, "We lived up north. We used to go Scarborough." He nodded, looking vaguely interested as they watched the little children run into the sea. The summer had been very warm that year, apparently, so they were all cooling off in the cold waters of the English channel.
"Is that where you had the caravan?" He asked and she nodded, leaning against his arm. It made her feel loved when he remembered stuff about her past. She knew so much about him, but it never really occurred to her that people would want to know anything about her.
"It was." She confirmed, "Look at you, remembering stuff about me." He placed a kiss on her head, using his free hand to pull her closer.
"I remember everything about you." He defended lightly, "Like how much you loved them three children on Solas a Aois." She smiled, laughing and nodded.
"I did." She agreed, "Poor little things."
~0~0~0~
"So how far are we into the future, Spaceman?" Donna asked from one side of him, thoroughly enjoying her own cone. The Doctor looked around, taking a look at all the races that were mingling harmoniously.
"Around the 74th century, I would say. 7552, going by the revival of the sock-and-sandal combo." He motioned to a large green ogre-like man, sporting the said combo along with huge beige shorts.
"'7552'." Donna repeated, a grin firmly on her face, "Oh I will never tire of that. It's the future, but it's here!" She looked to the other side of the Doctor, expecting Danni to be there and frowned to see her gone, "Danni?" She asked and the Doctor jolted. Neither of them had noticed she had gone. His hearts began pounding faster, this was supposed to be a nice quiet trip and something bad had happened...
He spotted her with three children and instantly relaxed. Two girls and a boy, they were about 7 or 8 when given a human equivalent, but were in fact all Chula children so were more around 20. All were grey-skinned, rather pudgy and covered in a sheen of mucus that they'd shed once they hit their version of puberty. Most species strayed away because of it, reacting like Donna was with a look of mild disgust but Danni was kneeling in the sand with them, a gentle smile on her face as she helped them re-build a part of their sandcastle.
"What's she doing?" Donna asked. The Doctor shrugged.
"Let's go find out." He strode over, Donna struggling to keep up.
"...so, you see, it's actually worked out for the best." Danni was telling one of the children as she patted a part of the sandcastle into place, "But just ignore them."
"Mother said they'd just leave us alone." The child replied, "Other species are really mean."
"Yes they are." Danni agreed, "But when you feel sad, just think about how you don't have to deal with having something rubbish like an extra arm." The children giggled, "I mean, I'd love to be slimy like you. Is it really slippery?" One of the little girls nodded.
"We can slide all over the floor." She cheered and Danni laughed, glancing behind her and seeing the Doctor and Donna stood there.
"Did you hear that?" She asked as if she knew they'd been listening, "They can slide all over the floor! That's not fair, all I can do is this." She stuck her tongue out, rolling it with cross eyed and the children giggled at her. The Doctor sat down in the sand, cross legged much like Danni was and he passed her the remains of his ice cream.
"Who was it?" He asked lowly and the little girl pointed across to a couple of three-armed girls, both green with blue hair stood around a water pool. He discreetly pulled out his sonic screwdriver and nodded at it pointedly then set it off in their direction, much like he had done on the Titanic. The water pool spat out water, drenching the two who screamed in terror. The children almost fell to the floor laughing at them, feeling like justice had been served.
"What is that?" The littlest girl asked, climbing over Danni and leaving a trail of slime on her as she tried to get to the Doctor's screwdriver.
"It's a very grown-up toy." He explained, pocketing it, "It's a bit of a cheat, really." The girl pouted cutely, crossing her arms in a sulk and the Doctor rolled his eyes, pointing it at a toy spaceship next to their sandcastle and causing it to fly on it's own. She gasped in delight and the three children watched the toy, mesmerised until it eventually landed on the top of their newly-rebuilt castle.
"Do it again!" They chanted and he laughed, shaking his head.
"I can't, we've got to go." He told them.
"Aww!" They all cried at once.
"Don't worry." Danni reassured them, "We're going to be here for a couple of days, aren't we?" She looked at the Doctor expectantly and, against his better judgement, he rolled his eyes and nodded.
"Yes we are." He told her and the children had cheered.
~0~0~0~
"Well," Eleven drawled, pointing towards the water, "Do you see the three teenagers under that blue umbrella?" She frowned and handed him the remains of her ice cream, pushing herself up onto the railings. She struggled to see which large beach umbrella he meant, there were a few blue ones.
"Which one?" She asked, concentrating hard as she tried to see anything out of the ordinary.
"The one next to the red one." He clarified and she nodded, spotting what he meant, "That's them." As if she'd heard them, one of the teenage girls there waved happily over at them. She gasped in shock, turning to look at the Doctor in disbelief.
"But, but... But they were grey!" She exclaimed in argument, "And slimy."
"A simple morphic field." He dismissed, "Plus, they grow out of the slime at puberty." He leant in close, placing a kiss against her ear, "Go say hi." He told her and she didn't need telling twice. She quickly climbed over the railings, jumping onto the beach and met the three teenagers who had been the small children she'd played with.
"Miss Danni!" The girl who waved cried happily as the two hugged, the boy and older girl joining in on the outside.
"Look at you!" Danni cried back, holding the young girl out at arm's length, "You... You're not slimy anymore." The girl giggled.
"Oh, we grew out of that." She dismissed with a flick of her black hair.
"Shame." Danni replied with a cheeky smile, "How are you even here?"
"The Doctor came." The other girl explained, "Said you wanted to take us all on holiday somewhere special, but we had to wear these." She pointed to the necklace around her neck, "He said he wasn't sure when or if you could come, but that he'd try and bring you so you could say hi." Danni looked back at her Doctor, who was sauntering towards her, knowing exactly what he had done.
"What a sentimental old fool." Danni whispered, wondering how it was even possible to love him even more than she did. He always found more ways to make her feel totally adored.
"So..." She drawled, turning to the three teenagers with a gleeful smirk on her face, "Ever played volleyball?"
~0~0~0~
She was floating. Her lungs burnt with the lack of air as she flailed the best she could, her limbs felt light and heavy at the same time. She tried to take a deep breath, but it just made everything worse and she knew she was about to die. In the TARDIS doorway, Eleven stood, looking more terrified than he'd ever seemed before, his hand still out in front of him from when he'd pushed her. She forced herself with the last bit of strength she had and reached forward, missing his fingers as he tried to stop her floating out of the TARDIS's forcefield. It was too late, she reached the edge and everything exploded in a golden light.
~0~0~0~
Volleyball hadn't lasted long. Unfortunately, as was her life, she'd been whisked away without much warning and into a large open area, greenery all around even if where she was seemed to be mainly stone, statues and water features decorating the area with a sense of enforced splendour. Seemed like a grand garden of some kind, which a set of archways in front of her with stairs leading away. However, the mass of people walking around seemed to suggest it was a public place rather than the grounds of an old mansion of sorts. Then she spotted Rory moving within the crowd and she beamed.
She loved Rory, she really didn't get to see him quite enough. Plus, Rory meant Eleven. Rory, on his own, not looking scared or nervous as he carried the three cups of coffee, barely noticing her under the archway. She smirked to herself, hiding behind one until he walked past.
"Hello!" She screamed, jumping out and causing him to jolt and scramble to save the drinks before they crashed on the floor.
"Danni!" He scolded lightly, "What are you doing?" She shrugged, hopping over to his side.
"Making you jump." She replied simply, leaning on his arm and blinking up at him with big, bright eyes that immediately stopped him being angry at her, "How are you?" She grinned.
"Fine, fine." He replied as they started walking again, Danni linking up with his arm and not taking a drink, "Married life seems to be suiting you." She was so much happier than the last time he'd seen her, but he knew he had been right at the time. She might have been heading to Cardiff with Jack to start again, but she was also running away from the man she loved because she was scared. It reminded him of another red head he knew.
"Oh, is it that late?" She asked, slightly surprised and worried. She glanced around the area they were, a frown appearing on her face, "Where are we?" She asked.
"Central Park." He explained, "We're having a picnic, the Doctor's reading." He paused in thought, "I should warn you, Amy has reading glasses."
"Central Park?" Danni repeated, dread filling her. She looked around again, now noticing all the stone statues and how they all appeared to be looking at her. Her hands started to shake, her breath catching in her chest as it felt like someone was squeezing her lungs. Rory felt her fall to a stop, her arm falling for his and he turned, studying her in increasing concern.
"Danni?" He asked, bending down slightly so they were at eye level as her breathing came out in short, sharp pants. He knew that look on her face, he'd seen in on patients too many times over the years, "Danni, can you hear me?" He asked and she met his gaze, a look of pure terror on her face, "It's okay, you're having a panic attack. Just listen to my voice. You're safe, you're okay." She had one hand grasped on her Manipulator as she shook, struggling to find her voice. She felt like something had reached inside her chest and was holding her heart in a vice-like grip. The world was spinning, everything was closing in but she tried to focus on Rory's voice, but it seemed too far away to cling to.
"Angels..." She sobbed, chocking on the word and he held his hands in front of her so he could see he wasn't going to touch her without permission.
"Danni." He repeated her name again, calmly as he could. He hoped the repetition of something she could relate to, something she heard a million times before with no issue could help, "Can you tell me what angels?"
"Stone... Stone angels." She tried again, "Please, Rory. Look at them, please." He looked around, doing as she asked but all he could see were cherubs and little children carved out of stone. Still, he tried to keep an eye on them all.
"Okay..." He was startled as she reached forward, groping his trousers before he realised she was going for his phone.
"Hello, Rory. Did you get lost again?" The Doctor asked her and she forced herself to focus on it, even though she felt like she was going to die at any moment, with the real possibility that was actually going to happen.
"Doctor..." She sobbed, begging him with the one word.
"Danni?" He asked, sounding worried.
"Stop reading the book." She begged, tears streaming from her eyes while burning them, "Put it down, stop reading!" She screamed the last bit with all the air she had left in her lungs, dropping the phone and doubling over, wrapping her arms around herself. Rory scrambled to the floor, picking it up to hear the Doctor yelling for her.
"Doctor, she's having a panic attack." He explained, "I don't know, it happened the moment I mentioned we were in Central Park."
"Why does she want me to stop reading?" He asked on the other side, demandingly and Rory shrugged to himself.
"I don't know." He replied, "I'll try to help her calm down then bring her to you, okay?"
"Tell her I'm coming." He replied instead.
"Doctor!" She panted, pulling Rory's attention back to her, "Tell him it's the Stone Angels!"
"Stone Angels?" The Doctor repeated, having heard her.
"Yeah, she said that before as well." Rory explained and Danni snatched the phone out of his hand again.
"It's the Angels. The Weeping Angels!" She explained frantically, "They're coming for me, this is it! Gwyneth, my parents! Don't let them get me, please come get me. I can't go home, I can't!"
"I'm coming." He promised her as Amy protested in the background, "Stay where you are. I am always coming, I promise." She nodded then hung up the phone, handing it to Rory.
"He's coming." She replied, feeling her heart rate slowing slightly as she started to calm down, reassured, "He's coming." She repeated and Rory nodded.
"He is." He told her and she smiled, still struggling to breath but not feeling like death was imminent.
Until she noticed Rory smiling back. Smiling at her, and looking at her and not at anything else.
"Why are you looking at me?" She asked, panicking again, "Rory, the Angels!" And there was a cold touch on her shoulder.