Martha wondered if Vairë was going to insist on wearing her normal attire to the party tonight. Tish had been quite emphatic that the work shindig was black-tie. Vairë’s daily outfits were simple and elegant but they were not black-tie. When she’d asked her friend that morning if she had something that fit the bill for a black-tie soirée, Vairë had just nodded and said she’d need to get back to the TARDIS for it. Of course, the TARDIS was conveniently parked in Martha’s garden. The medical resident wondered that no one seemed to notice it was even there. Vairë had tried to explain about perception filters and had finally explained that people just ignored things that they didn’t want to deal with. She called it the “Someone Else’s Problem” effect. “Also, people are thick,” she’d laughed.
Martha liked that about Vairë. If she couldn’t explain something, she didn’t keep rattling off technical terms in a bout to look impressive. She honestly tried to come up with a way to make you understand what she was talking about and, if that failed, she’d give you a silly explanation and then laugh it off. For someone who was so knowledgeable, it never seemed to go to her head. Even in all of those dangerous situations they’d been in when other people’s selfishness or stupidity had nearly gotten them killed, Vairë had done her best to keep calm and explain herself. Even when she’d been possessed by that living sun. Martha had known so many doctors and researchers and experts who couldn’t explain anything to anyone who wasn’t a genius and would look down on someone for not understanding extremely technical details. She was glad that Vairë never made her feel that way and grew determined to make certain that none of her patients or future students ever felt that way either.
Studying herself in the mirror, Martha wished she had some of Vairë’s natural grace and beauty. Their money hadn’t been any good in the bar they’d gone to after Leo’s party and Vairë had turned down nearly a dozen offers. Not that Martha herself had done too badly, either. But the men were definitely interested in the blonde and the more distressed and confused she’d been by that, the more ardently they’d been after her until she dragged Martha back to her flat. Martha pulled a long coat over her cocktail dress and headed out to the garden to see if Vairë was ready to go yet. She pulled out the key to the TARDIS the other woman had given her and walked into the console room.
“How do I look?” Vairë asked. “The shoes took a while. Had to get them so that the heels will telescope back in. Just in case trouble finds us,” she grinned. “Trouble always seems to find me and I’d hate to be killed by impractical footwear.”
“Think there’s time to make me a pair, then?” Martha laughed. “Come over here and let me get a good look at you.” Vairë walked over to the ramp and stood with her arms out. “Blimey, you clean up well. You should be a model because you are gorgeous!”
The blonde woman had twisted her hair up and pinned it to the back of her head with two dark, long sticks. Wispy curls framed her face, softening the severity of the hairstyle. Her make-up was, as always, lightly but skillfully applied, giving her an ageless quality. She’d easily be taken as being young, but one look at those hazel eyes – now brown, flashing green, then turning amber-gold as the light changed – gave you the feeling that she was far older than she let on. She was wearing a cocktail length dark blue dress that draped over her right shoulder, leaving her left shoulder bare. It hugged her slender frame but was not skin-tight. Silver embroidery and black beadwork ran along the hem and over the chest, drawing attention without being blaring about it. Sheer stockings ran down Vairë’s toned and muscled legs, ending in black sandal heels with black ribbons wrapping up around her ankles and calves. All-in-all, she looked like some Greco-Roman statue of a goddess brought to life. Martha would not have been at all shocked if, the next time she walked into a museum, she saw a statue of Vairë looking back at her.
“Flattery will get you, Dr. Jones,” Vairë laughed.
“I’m not kidding. Seriously, you’re not going to be able to stay celibate looking like that. I’ll be surprised if you don’t get clubbed over the head and find yourself married by tomorrow. Just hope it’s a nice fellow. What’s your type? Big and tough or slender and foxy?”
“Seriously, Martha,” Vairë said, her tone a little sad, “thanks for the kindness. Now, let’s get going. I would hate to miss a good party. Love a good party, me. As long as I’m not working in the kitchens. Then it’s not such a good party. Got my mum’s cooking skills,” she quipped. “Of course, she did once make this tea that saved the world…”
Martha said nothing. Vairë obviously was completely unaware of how she really looked. That had “stupid bloke” written all over it and Martha began to wonder just what kind of man it would take to make someone wonderful like Vairë have such a low regard for herself. “Yeah, let’s get going. Time to see what Tish’s boss Lazarus is up to. He says he’s going to change what it means to be human.”
“Really?” Vairë said, perking up. “This I’ve got to see!”
~*~*~*~
Tish ran up to her sister and Vairë as soon as they entered the building. The press corps were swarming about. That made Vairë a little uncomfortable. She resolved to do her best to stay away from the cameras. But then, when she’d looked at herself in the mirror, she realized that she almost didn’t recognize her own face anymore. She was changing. Into who or what she didn’t know. It frightened her, a little. Once this metamorphosis was complete, would she still be her? Would she still remember her old life? Maybe it would be for the best if she forgot entirely. If she let Rose Tyler slip away in peace. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she realized that as long as she loved the Doctor, Rose Tyler would never be completely gone. That was both comforting and distressing at the same time. Through the earring she wore, she could feel her sister sending comfort. Pushing the thoughts from her mind, Vairë walked over to Martha and tried to look as if she belonged there.
“Hi Vairë!” Tish said brightly. “I see that you’ve managed to get my sister out two weekends in a row. That’s dangerously close to a social life for her.”
“If I keep this up, I’ll end up in all the gossip columns,” Martha laughed.
“You might, actually,” Tish snorted. “You should keep an eye out for photographers. And Mum, she’s coming too. Even dragging Leo along with her.”
“Leo in black tie? That I must see!”
Vairë was still looking around. She liked Tish and Martha but she was definitely more than curious about what Lazarus was up to. The name itself was somewhat ominous. She hoped this wouldn’t turn into Cardiff 1860. The last thing she wanted to do was deal with ghosts or the undead again.
“So, this Lazarus, he’s your boss?” Vairë asked once there was a lull in the conversation.
“Professor Lazarus, yes. I’m part of his executive staff,” Tish said proudly.
“She’s in the PR department,” Martha explained. Vairë was definitely of the scientific bent and she didn’t want her being disappointed when Tish couldn’t explain everything. Not that Vairë would be. She just wanted to give her friend a hint that there might be better people to ask for information than her sister.
“I’m head of the PR department, actually.”
“You’re joking!” Martha said, impressed beyond measure.
“I put this whole thing together,” Tish bragged, gesturing to the gathering.
“So do you know what the professor’s going to be doing tonight?” Vairë asked as she stared at the strange machinery that was the center place of the gathering. “That looks like it might be a sonic microfield manipulator.”
“She’s a science geek,” Tish laughed, delighted. “I should have known. Got to get back to work now. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Vairë left Tish and Martha to catch up. The sisters were close, she could tell. She’d never had a sister. Often, she’d wished for one. But now that Jackie was finally having another baby, she was off in a parallel universe. Vairë would never know her younger sibling. That tore at her. It made her heart bleed. She’d wanted a family. She’d dreamed once about marrying the Doctor and having a huge family with him. Vairë sighed. What had she to offer a Time Lord that Reinette could not better? Forcing her thoughts out of the past, Vairë settled on the present.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I am going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you will wake to a world which will be changed forever,” an elderly man said. This must be Professor Lazarus. He stepped into the chamber while others fiddled with buttons and controls. Vairë watched as the machinery activated. Lightning flashed in the room and the sonic buzz from the chamber nearly shattered her eardrums. Then the alarms began sounding.
“Something’s wrong. It’s overloading!” Vairë shouted as she ran toward the control station. Sparks flew from the machinery that powered the chamber. Smoke began to fill the air. Vairë coughed as she worked; trying to shut the system down before it exploded and killed everyone in the building. Not bothering to try to be graceful, Vairë leapt over the tables. She pulled out her sonic screwdriver and began to try to rectify the damage. Humanity wasn’t supposed to come into this kind of technology for centuries yet. But somehow, Professor Lazarus had. Was this a fixed point in time? Or was it in flux? She shook her head, trying to puzzle it out.
“Somebody stop her. Get her away from those controls!” a woman shouted.
“If this thing goes up, it’ll take the whole building with it. Is that what you want?” Vairë shouted back as she continued to work to try to get the system to shut down without overloading. She jumped over the table again, glad that she was wearing shorts under her skirt but wishing she were in her normal trousers and trainers. Pulling the mains cable out of the power station, she relaxed when she the columns surrounding the chamber began to slow. “Get it open!” she shouted to Martha as she ran across the room to the machine. If Lazarus were still alive, he might need medical attention.
Martha tugged on the door and the chamber opened. A younger man with a head full of blond hair and eyes filled with promise and ambition emerged slowly. He stared at his hands as if surprised to find the skin on them firm and young. He touched his face, smiling when he found it wrinkle-free. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am seventy six years old and I am reborn!” he shouted to the cries and applause of the crowd gathered around him. Vairë stared in stupefaction. This was wrong. This was so wrong. He was off, somehow. And it was up to her to figure out how and to fix the problem. Before it destroyed the world around her.
~*~*~*~
“It can’t be the same guy. It’s impossible. It must be a trick,” Martha whispered to Vairë, not wanting to believe the evidence in front of her.
“Oh, it’s not a trick. I wish it were,” Vairë sighed as she studied the machinery. She felt tingles of terror crawling up her neck and down her spine. Her sister was doing her best to mitigate her discomfort.
“What just happened then?” Martha wondered aloud.
“He just changed what it means to be human,” Vairë muttered dully. This was wrong. It was completely and totally wrong. Lazarus and an older woman whispered, their heads bowing close to one another as they exchanged words not meant for the rest of the gathering to hear. Then Lazarus straightened and grabbed at one of the hors devours plates. He ate as if he had not seen food in years. “I’m famished,” Professor Richard Lazarus moaned.
“Energy deficit. Always happens with this kind of process,” Vairë said as she approached him. Lazarus turned his bright blue eyes on her. His eyes looked glazed and feverish. Vairë had to stop herself from taking a step back from the intensity of his gaze.
“You speak as if you see this every day, Miss?”
“Carter. Vairë Carter,” Vairë said confidently. “And well, no, not every day, but I have some experience of this kind of transformation.” She had studied the routes which humans would take to extend their life spans during her time in the Vortex. It was part of her biochemistry and bio-tech research in case she ever ran into the Cybermen again.
“That’s not possible,” Lazarus argued.
“Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance. That’s inspired,” Vairë replied softly. Inspired and wrong.
“You understand the theory, then,” Richard Lazarus said, impressed. Vairë nodded.
“Enough to know that you couldn’t possibly have allowed for all the variables,” she said softly.
“No experiment is entirely without risk.”
“That thing nearly exploded. You might as well have stepped into a blender. If I hadn’t stopped it, it would have exploded.”
“Then I thank you, Miss Carter. But that’s a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less.”
By then, Martha had walked up and been listening in to the conversation in horrified awe. “You’ve no way of knowing that until you’ve run proper tests,” she argued. Vairë glanced at her gratefully.
“Look at me. You can see what happened. I’m all the proof you need,” Lazarus retorted with a laugh.
“This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially,” an older woman, one of Lazarus’s consorts, boasted.
“Commercially?” Martha scoffed. “You are joking. That’ll cause chaos.”
“Not chaos, change. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve.”
“This isn’t about improving. This is about you and your customers living a little longer,” Vairë hissed.
“Not a little longer, Miss Carter. A lot longer. Perhaps indefinitely,” Lazarus said confidently.
“Richard, we have things to discuss, upstairs,” the older woman said. Vairë watched her out of sad eyes. Clearly this woman had deluded herself. She believed that she might be immortal, her lifespan intertwined with Lazarus’s. But he stared at her as if she were merely an entrée to be devoured. Humans. Would they ever gain in wisdom?
“Goodbye, Miss Carter. In a few years, you’ll look back and laugh at how wrong you were.” He stared at Vairë as if she were the most foolish woman he’d ever seen. Then he glanced at Martha and put his hand out as if to shake hers. She placed her hand in his, studying him while he lifted her hand and kissed it. With a smile, he turned and laughed as he and the older woman made their way out of the crowds and up the lifts to some privacy. Vairë shuddered. She felt as if Richard Lazarus were definitely unsafe.
“Oh, he’s out of his depth. No idea of the damage he might have done,” she whispered.
“So what do we do now?” Martha asked, sensing an adventure in the making. Vairë grinned at her. She truly liked this medical resident.
“Now? Well, this building must be full of laboratories. I say we do our own tests.”
“Lucky I’ve just collected a DNA sample then, isn’t it?” Martha chuckled as she lifted the hand that Lazarus had kissed. Vairë’s own rich laugh followed quickly behind.
“Oh, Martha Jones, you’re a star,” Vairë laughed as the two girls headed off to find a lab.
~*~*~*~
Vairë was glad of the telescoping heels as she ran through the halls towards the labs again. Earlier, she and Martha had watched Lazarus’s DNA mutate randomly. The hypersonic waves had rendered it highly unstable. They’d found a woman’s desiccated corpse in Lazarus’s office and had barely been able to get Tish away from the man before he transformed again and attempted to devour her. Now, Tish and Martha were both safely downstairs and Vairë was running through the upper levels, leading the spiny, skeletal thing that was Richard Lazarus on a chase. She hoped that Martha didn’t lose her sonic screwdriver. She’d become quite dependent on it and on the psychic paper she’d picked up during a trip to the 53rd century.
Her mind was filled with fear that if Lazarus’s DNA was so unstable and he was mutating into a monstrosity, then his fate might be her own. She was no longer human. What had happened to her and what would it mean for her future? She forced herself to shove the worries aside as matters to be fretted over later. Once everyone was safe.
Vairë managed to make it to the laboratory ahead of Lazarus. Once inside, she ran and leapt up on the table and began taking the light fixture in the pillar apart. Reworking the wires a bit, she nodded in satisfaction. Jumping back down, she began moving through the lab, turning on the Bunsen burners so that gas would fill the room.
“More hide and seek, Miss Carter?” Lazarus laughed as he made his way into the lab. “Why don’t you come out and face me?”
“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Vairë retorted. She stood up and looked directly at the monster plodding towards her. “Why would I want to face that? You look worse than me before my first cuppa tea in the morning and that’s saying something!” Turning towards the door, she ran out of the lab, slapping the light switch on as she dived through the doors. The lab filled with flames and the shockwave of the small explosion threw Vairë off her feet. She got back up and began running again. As she turned a corner, she and Martha nearly ran into each other. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m returning this,” Martha said, handing Vairë back the sonic screwdriver. “Thought you might need it.”
“How did you…”
“I heard the explosion. I guessed it was you.”
“I blasted Lazarus.”
“Did you kill him?” Martha asked hopefully. Behind them and across the way Lazarus was preparing to leap towards them.
“More sort of annoyed him, I’d say,” Vairë replied as she and Martha began running again. They made it to the reception room with Lazarus right behind them.
“What now? We’ve just gone round in a circle,” Martha panted.
“We can’t lead him outside. Come on, get in,” Vairë said as she climbed into the sonic capsule.
“Are we hiding?”
“No, he knows we’re here. But this is his masterpiece. I’m betting he won’t destroy it, not even to get at us,” Vairë whispered.
“But we’re trapped,” Martha pointed out.
“Well, yeah, that’s a slight problem.”
“You mean you don’t have a plan?”
“Yes, the plan was to get inside here.”
“Then what?”
“Well, then I’d come up with another plan.”
“In your own time, then,” Martha said, rolling her eyes. She was used to her friend’s plans going a little bit awry.
“Here we are,” Vairë said, adjusting the settings on her sonic screwdriver.
“What’re you going to do with that?”
“Improvise,” the blonde said as she managed to get down near the floor of the chamber and began working on rewiring the machine.
“Glad there isn’t a bloke in here with me. Blimey but it’s a tight fit.”
“Yeah. Nice shoes, by the way.”
“Wish I had a pair with telescoping heels. Do I have any runs in my stockings?”
“No.” Vairë snorted. “That skirt is tickling me. What is it? Chiffon?”
“Yeah. Sorry. Wasn’t really planning on being wedged in a tiny chamber with you.”
“Reminds me of playing ‘Spin the Bottle’ when I was younger. Not that I’m interested in snogging you or anything. Just not the first time I’ve been wedged in with someone like this.”
“God, we’re trapped in a capsule and you’re cracking jokes.”
“Beats freaking out.”
“I still don’t understand where that thing came from. Is it alien?”
“No, for once it’s strictly human in origin.”
“Human? How can it be human?”
“Probably from dormant genes in Lazarus’s DNA. The energy field in this thing must have reactivated them. And it looks like they’re becoming dominant.”
“So it’s a throwback.”
“Some option that evolution rejected for us millions of years ago, but the potential is still there. Locked away in our genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake.”
“It’s like Pandora’s box.”
“Exactly. Seriously, I love those shoes. Can I borrow them sometime?”
“Get us out of here alive and you can have them, Vairë.”
“Ooh. Added incentive. I like that.”
Just then, the machine began to spin up.
“Vairë, what’s happening?”
“Sounds like he’s switched the machine on.”
“And that’s not good, is it?”
“Well, it’s a few buses, thirty quid in a taxi, and a long walk away from “good.” I was hoping it’d take him longer to work that bit out,” Vairë sighed as she continued her modifications.
“I don’t want to hurry you, but…”
“I know, I know. Nearly done.”
“What exactly is it that you’re doing?”
“I’m trying to set the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it.”
“Will that kill it?”
“When he transforms, he’s three times his size. Cellular triplication. So he’s spreading himself thin.”
“We’re going to end up like him!” Martha said, panicking.
“Just one more!”
There was a loud, hard pulse that filled the room outside the capsule, knocking Lazarus back. Once the machine had ground to a halt, Vairë pushed the door open and looked around.
“I thought we were going to go through the blender then,” Martha said, relieved.
“Really shouldn’t take that long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice,” Vairë muttered. Martha pushed past her and saw Lazarus lying naked, dead on the floor.
“Oh, God. He seems so human again. It’s kind of pitiful,” she sighed.
“Eliot saw that, too. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper,” Vairë said sadly. They watched over Lazarus in silence until the paramedics arrived and loaded his body onto a stretcher. Then the two girls walked outside. Martha’s mother ran over and hugged her daughter, then drew Vairë in for an embrace.
“You’re alive. You’re safe,” she wept gratefully.
“Thanks to Vairë’s mad mechanic skills,” Martha laughed.
“Where did you learn all that?” Francine asked, “And why, if you’re so brilliant, are you working as a photojournalist? You could change the world.”
“Can’t fathom staying in one place for very long,” Vairë said carefully.
“You are welcome in our home any time. Your parents must be so proud of you.”
“They’re gone,” Martha whispered to her mother. “Vairë’s family died during the Battle of Canary Wharf. Just like Adie.”
“My God,” Francine breathed. “I am so sorry. Please, come, stay with us.”
“I can’t,” Vairë said, “but I thank you for the offer. It’s nice to feel…wanted…again.”
A loud crash interrupted their conversation. Vairë turned and began running towards the origin of the noise. Martha and Tish followed after her. She saw the ambulance up the road. The bay doors were wide open. Running up, she saw the corpses of the paramedics. They’d been sucked dry.
“Lazarus,” she sighed. “Back from the dead. Should have known, really.” She pulled out her sonic screwdriver and began looking for the signal that would lead her to him.
“Where’s he gone?” Martha asked as she caught up to her friend.
“That way. The church.”
“Cathedral. It’s Southwark Cathedral. He told me,” Tish said softly. The three of them began walking into the cathedral looking for the man named Lazarus.
~*~*~*~
Down in the cathedral, Vairë squatted next to Lazarus’s body. She wished she had her coat with her so that she could cover him with it. It didn’t feel right to leave him lying there, broken and naked. With a sigh, she reached up and gently pressed his eyelids down. “Go well on your journey, Richard Lazarus,” she whispered softly as his body reverted again, this time going back to the elderly man he had been before stepping into that capsule.
Martha and Tish were safe – they’d be back down from the bell tower any time now. Vairë was glad that Lazarus had sought refuge in a church with such a grand organ else her plan would never have worked. She thought briefly about stopping off somewhere for a while – maybe going to hang out with Beethoven – to learn how to play properly instead of just making a racket with the few chords she did know.
Vairë rose and began trotting through the cathedral in search of Martha and Tish. Once she knew for certain that they were safe…well, she’d be off again. She needed to speak with the TARDIS. She needed to know if Lazarus’s fate was her own. She needed to know just what she was now that she was no longer entirely human.
And once she knew that, she could decide what to do next.
~*~*~*~
Martha was quiet as she and Vairë arrived back at her flat. She’d been on numerous adventures with the blonde but this one had hit too close to home. She’d almost lost her family over it. Any of them could have been killed. The trips she’d taken into the past or future, to worlds or places far away from Earth, those had been fun even when they’d been scary. Martha had known that, even if something happened to her, her family would be safe. But this time…this had been different. She wondered how Vairë kept going even after losing her family. How could she just keep running, keep moving, keep fighting like she did?
For her part, Vairë had been silent as well. She was torn that innocent people had died and she’d been unable to save them. She committed their faces and their names to memory. Though she considered it an abuse of time travel to use future knowledge to get rich, she did have several investments tucked away so that she could support herself without resorting to sonicking pay-points. She’d also contributed to research and development in various places and generated income from those projects. She would track down the families of the fallen and make certain that they were provided for. It was the least she could do for them.
The two girls walked back into the flat and sat down on the couch. “Vairë…” Martha said, uncertain of how to explain what she was feeling. “You’re going back out there, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Vairë sighed. “Jeopardy friendly, me. Trouble seems to find me where ever I am. So, I’m going off. Going far away. To keep you safe.”
“None of this was your fault.”
“I know that in my head. My heart is a different story altogether.”
“Will you ever come back? Is this good-bye?”
“Oh, Martha,” Vairë sniffed, trying to swallow her tears. “You’ve been the best. Really, you have. And so yeah, I’ll be back. But you need some time, don’t you? You need to spend some time with your family. Back here on Earth. Living day after day.”
“Yeah,” Martha said softly.
“I understand. Once upon a time, I could never see myself staying in one place for more than a few days. I could never see myself having a normal life. Then came the Army of Ghosts. Then came Torchwood and the war. I lost them all, that day. My best mate. My mum. My father. They’re gone, Martha, and I will never see them again. That’s why I can’t stay here. My mum was right. Once she was gone, there wasn’t really any reason for me to come back to Earth. It wasn’t home anymore. Not with her gone. I’m a terrible daughter to her. She saw it. Said I was becoming hard, cold, and dark. That I wouldn’t be human anymore. And I’m not. Where she is now…she must be so disappointed in me.”
“Don’t talk like that! You’re wonderful, Vairë. Tonight, you saved so many people. And after it was all done, when my mum was getting ready to brag to the TV stations about you, you asked her not to. Said you didn’t want to take anything away from Lazarus. That he’d been ambitious and had overreached, but that he was a brilliant man who deserved a proper legacy. No one even stopped to thank you for what you did. But I am. Thanks, Vairë. Thanks for saving all our lives. Thanks for being the wonderful person you are. Your mum…God, she must be so proud of you.”
Vairë sat silently. Slow tears leaked down her face. Her hazel eyes were reddened and beginning to swell. Leave it to Martha to know exactly what to say. To know how to pull her back from the ledge she felt under her feet. “No, Martha Jones. Thank you,” she said thickly. “I owe you my life. When I met you at the Royal Hope Hospital, I was just drifting along. Just looking for the next adventure. The next adrenaline rush. I didn’t really care much about anything. I had a chip on my shoulder and was determined to wrestle the universe into submission to prove myself to…never mind that,” she sighed, waving her hands in front of her. “I’d pretty much given up. I had my sister but…I had forgotten how to laugh. To really, properly laugh. I’d forgotten what happy felt like. What it felt like to have a friend. To have someone to be silly with. You gave me that back and you gave me back a part of my life that I’d forgotten to even miss.”
“But you’re still going off again, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I need to get away from here for a while. Need to do some thinking. But I’ll be back. I promise you that. I’ll be back and when you’re ready, we’ll hit the stars again. Vairë Carter and Martha Jones, in the TARDIS. If, you know, you want to come with me.”
“Wild horses couldn’t keep me from it,” Martha smiled through her tears. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. The things you’ve shown me, the things I’ve learned traveling with you…they mean the world to me.”
The two friends embraced warmly and then stood up. Vairë walked back outside to the TARDIS. “Martha,” she said slowly. “Have you got a bit of paper and a pencil?”
“Yeah. Hold on a tic.” She darted back inside to get the items. Vairë wrote a telephone number down and handed it to her friend. “That’s my number. If anything happens, give me a call and I’ll come right away. Unless I’m in jail or in the middle of something dangerous in which case, I’ll come as soon as I get the voice mail. Do remember to give me the date and time, though. Otherwise, I could miss the mark considerably. Oh and…if you ever notice your key to the TARDIS getting warm, it means I’ve landed nearby in your timeframe. Give me a call and you can help me with whatever I’m getting up to. Please, think of the TARDIS as your home away from home.”
“Wow. I’ve got a phone that will call anyone through all of space and time, a key to a space ship, and a direct line to Vairë Carter. All I need now is a handsome fellow and a few billion pounds and my life is set.”
“Can’t help you much with the fellow,” Vairë laughed, “but if you really need some cash…”
“Nah. I’ll be completing my residency in six months. After that, I’ll be making plenty.”
“Well, just call me when you’re ready to get back out there. Or just call me when you want to chat. I’ll miss having you around but I…I need to do some thinking. Take care of yourself, Martha Jones.”
“Take care of yourself, Vairë Carter.”
“Ta.” Giving Martha a final hug, Vairë walked back into the TARDIS, closed the doors, and began singing her way out of London and to her future.