The Daughter of Gallifrey

14: The Forest and the Forgotten

Running.

An awful lot of running.

Caroline was running.

Why? She couldn't answer her own question and there was no one else.

So why did she feel she was being chased? She glanced back for a split second before facing forward again and narrowly dodging a tree trunk.

So she was in a forest.

The nature rushing past her was lush and patterned with shadows. Caroline felt she was being watched no matter how fast she ran. The invisible eyes were everywhere. The shadows darkened as her fear gripped her throat. Breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. She'd never been the athletic type, to say the least.

How much longer could she keep going?

And why? Why was she running?

And what from?

Sticks crunched under Caroline's hurried steps, and branches snagged her clothes and whipped her stinging skin mercilessly. The forest ahead of her seemed infinite.

How much further was there?

Her feet began to falter, but she continued on.

Suddenly, she found herself stationary, her bare feet planted firmly on a bed of damp moss. Caroline wriggled her toes.

Why had she stopped? How had she gotten here?

It was then that she noticed what she was clothed in. A white medical gown clung to her skin, which was moist from sweating and the humidity of the forest.

Caroline's curly hair was pulled back sloppily, stray pieces hanging against her cheeks, but felt smooth and recently washed. Her feet were dirty and legs rather cut up, probably from the undergrowth she had been sprinting through. Crimson streaks of blood trickled down her shins and seeped into the soft ground.

But something else caught Caroline's eye. It was on her right forearm.

She stared in curiosity at the three dark lines drawn on her freckled skin.

Tally marks?

"Caroline."

Her body lurched forward and she found herself on the bottom bunk of her bed in the TARDIS.

Safe. She was safe. The forest was gone. The gown was gone. So were the strange marks on her arm.

But Caroline's twin hearts still hammered against her ribcage, threatening to burst out and flop on to her lap. Rory stood over her, one hand on the rail of the top bunk to steady himself as he leaned down.

"Mr. Williams," she replied, trying to regulate her heartbeat while slowing her breathing, which she had noticed was very labored.

"I just came to, er, check-you were ah, you were crying so I-" He stopped and gestured to Caroline's face. She hadn't even registered the wetness on her cheeks and hands. She had obviously been covering her face and sobbing in her sleep. "Are you alright?"

"I-I don't know," she choked out, "It was just a dream-just a bit scary. I'm-I'm fine..." She wiped her hands on her blanket and blinked furiously, avoiding Rory's worried gaze. The brown-haired man settled on the edge of the bed, sighing.

"Dreams can be strange in here sometimes." He recalled the self-proclaimed Dream Lord that had once toyed with his, Amy, and the Doctor's minds in the form of alternating perilous dreams. He nearly shuddered thinking of his own death in that whole event.

"Very strange indeed," Caroline murmured as she finally looked back at Rory, meeting his kind eyes with her own puffy, bloodshot ones. He smiled, his thin lips pressed together in concern.

"You know, when George has nightmares-" Rory stopped abruptly, his mouth still open to form his next word. His eyes widened.

"Mr. Williams?"

"George!" He exclaimed, "And Amy! I left them! I'd forgotten!" Rory jumped up. "What kind of father am I?"

"Wait-you have a son?" But Rory had already disappeared out the door and down the hall. Caroline threw back her sheets and wasn't far behind him.  

The Doctor and Jack were seated near the TARDIS console, their heads close as they conversed seriously in hushed tones. The Doctor was explaining the exact circumstances of Caroline's predicament when Rory practically tossed himself down the stairs.

"DOCTOR!" The brown-haired man rushed up to the duo, clearly exasperated from his all-out sprinting through the TARDIS. "Doctor, we need to go back! Back home! My home..." he hesitated, "There's something-someone I need to see. And you need to meet."

"Home?" The Doctor seemed confused for a moment. "Oh, oh, right...home, okay." He strolled over to the TARDIS hub.

Caroline appeared at the top of stairs.

"Oi, what's-" she began.

"Rory's put in a request. The Williams residence. Boring, but-"

"It won't be boring when we get there, I promise. Amy'll be..." Rory looked frightened as he pictured his wife's reaction to his note and running off with the Doctor without her and their son, mostly just without her. "She'll be livid," he whispered.

"Well, count me in, Doc," Jack added with a grin that melted Caroline's heart, and not for the usual reason a female reacted this way toward the Captain. He was her father, after all. "Torchwood's been unoperational for too long and I'm up for some new faces, if you know what I mean." He winked at the Doctor, whose eyes crinkled in a silent warning.

"The Williams' it is!" The Doctor shouted happily, though his mind spun with curiosity.

A new someone? But who? Ha, now he'd said it. Who.

He threw the wibbly lever and the TARDIS shuddered as it hurtled through the time vortex. He listened, smiling to himself, his hand resting on the still engaged parking brake.