TWENTY MOMENTS WITH ROMANA

A/N Eleven/Romana Please review..

Disclaimer If I owned Doctor I would bring both Brax and Romana on the show


Romana woke, gasping at another nightmare. It was always the Daleks, the same dark rooms, no light or sunshine; feeling so weak, so afraid that nobody was coming to help her.

But then there were the other dreams: dreams of a beautiful planet with lush red grass, twin suns and a man with deep dark eyes. She smiled as him, as he turned his ageless orbs on her with such love. Sometimes she thought that somehow she knew him, maybe in a whole different life.

There were other dreams too: running through the streets of Paris with a man in a hundred foot scarf, and mad, such mad hair. Then they were another man, this one different too: he wore Edwardian clothes he would spin her around in excitement.

Her dreams didn't feel like dreams. they felt too real.

She glanced at the fob watch that was in her hand. It called to her, almost begging to be opened. A faint light leaked out of it, shimmering like golden dust. Gently she turned it over. Romanadvoratrelundar. The letters were engraved in an elegant script. She didn't know what it meant, but it felt like a name. Romanadvoratrelundar. She repeated it slowly, the syllables tripping off her tongue. it felt so familiar to her.


When the Doctor arrived in the hub, Jack told him they had some woman there. She had a fob watch just like his, same writing same everything. He didn't dare believe that anyone else would survive the Time war, but as soon as he saw her he just knew; she looked exactly the same when he had last seen her.

"Romana?" he said but she did not look up. instead she clutched the fob watch tighter, as if it was her salvation and someone would prise it out of her hands.

He started to mutter. It was her, his Romana, after all this time she was here. He never saw her during the Time war but everything was so crazy. Rassilion was President once more and had assumed people like Romana and Brax were already dead.

Finally she glanced at him but gave no recognition of knowing him. He felt his hearts sink, but honestly he never expected her to; the last time he saw her he was in his eighth regeneration.

"Open the watch." He whispered, but the woman, Romana, shoved it back into her pocket, narrowing her eyes.

"Why." she quizzed giving him a suspicious look. It was a statement, rather than a question. The Doctor smiled.

"Trust me I'm the Doctor"

Romana hesitated for a moment, deliberating. Something was telling her she should trust him. She drew breath and flicked it open. Suddenly light came out flooding out and her head ached with the memories, and thoughts and feelings. They were so old and familiar, yet so new and exciting all at the same time. Travelling, Paris, Gallifrey, been President, Braxiatel, Narvin, Leela so many things that happened then the war, she gasped, gripping her head in pain as her eyes watered with tears. She bit her lip and tasted the hot tang of blood.

"Doctor," she whimpered as her emotions washed over her.

They were dead all of them, How, after all this time, could she be there? He had to think. "Think, think, think." He muttered to himself hitting himself on the head, not even knowing what to do with his hands as he winced them together."How did you survive?" he had to know what happened.

"I didn't want to leave," Romana choked. Tears fell down her face, running into her mouth and dripping off her chin and nose. "I watched as the dogma virus destroyed it, Gallifrey. She gasped again, screwing her eyes shut at another sudden influx of painful memories. "I allowed Brax to get us away, me Narvin Leela. as Gallifrey fell, our Gallifrey destroyed by the virus and I let it happen. I let it happen." she repeated the words, sobbing uncontrollably. The Doctor squatted by her face and cocked his head to the side.

"Brax?" The Doctor gave her a questioning look. He always hoped his brother survived, despite his suspicions of the true nature of his brother and Romana's relationship. They always looked so much closer than friends. Brax had always stood by her side when he visited Gallifrey. He had been totally devoted to her, he could see that clearly.

Romana raised her head slightly so her tear blurred, blood shoot eyes could look into the calm brown irises of her ancient friend

"Brax," she hissed, "its always bloody Brax. If I ever get my hands on him I will kill him." Romana warned.

The Doctor frowned. "They're all gone Romana." He repressed the end of that sentence in his chest: "And you should not be here. Brax, would have died with Gallifrey."

That threw her. "G-Gone?" whispered Romana. as Her usually strong tone was cracking.

"There was a war, the Daleks. They're all gone." said the Doctor.

"Not Brax, he would of survived, he always does." Brax's words echoed into her mind: "There are rumours in the big wide universe, more than rumours in fact that something is coming to Gallifrey, something worse than you can possible imagine."

She wondered was that what Brax had foreseen A Time War? Her anger sizzled away. Had this been his plan all along? That they were to survive? The worse thing Romana could ever imagine would be Daleks. Would she ever be free of them or the memories that sometimes resurfaced in her? She still carried the scars of her time at their hands. Scars that had not quite healed. She would always be terrified of them.

She closed her eyes. "I remember I do," she insisted, "I was me, and then I wasn't; Brax made me human forced me into the machine. I pleaded with him, but he said he was doing it for Gallifrey. I had to survive... well after losing Narvin." She took a few calming breaths before continuing.

"After the virus destroyed Gallifrey and we found the cure, we were great again once more... Or so I thought. But whatever it was Brax foresaw, it wasn't the dogma virus. It was an even greaterthreat." She remembered the Daleks invading, Rassilion been raised up again, him being worse than she had ever remembered him as he planned to destroy all of creation calling it the final sanction. Narvin had challenged him, his biggest mistake it cost him his life

"Oh Narvin," she repeated his name as memories played into her head. "He died on Gallifrey, there was so much blood." she remembered his blood on her gowns, on her face and her hands as she tried to stem the flow of blood before he closed his eyes, as Brax had to pull her away from his lifeless body. "No but, if we just wait," she remembered herself saying. "He will regenerate."

Romana went quiet once again as she took a deep breath. "Narvin did not regenerate he died in my arms. I wanted to die too. It should have been me, so much blood...," whispered Romana as her voice trailed off.

She remembered how Brax had looked at her with such sadness.

"Romana, you have to listen to me: he's gone, there's no regeneration. We have to go now," he insisted.

"But we can't just leave him!" she had almost screamed.

"We have to, we have to go, we have to go now Romana!"

"You know what? damn you! I don't need you, leave me!" she had hissed angrily trying to get to Narvin, but Brax blocked her.

"We don't have time for this. Do you want to be lying dead too? Because if you stay that is what Rassilion will do to you. Is that what you want Romana?" he replied in a low dangerous tone.

She remembered herself falling from the shock, but Brax's arms caught her weakened body that had been injured herself. "I've got you," he whispered as she trembled and started to shake as the tears fell once more. She had remembered him carrying her through the battered grounds of Gallifrey as she tried to fight him, claiming she could manage. She didn't need to be carried, she knew it was a lie, but she had never felt so weak and her legs felt like jelly. In fact she couldn't even be sure she even had legs at that point. She remembered mumbling that she should die too, but even as he tried to sooth her with his calming voice, she lost consciousness.

She vaguely remembered Brax treating her injuries and waking up in his bed, maybe it was the closest room she had mused to herself. Despite her attraction towards him nothing had ever happened between them.

Brax's ship had always felt like home for her, felt safe and yet there had been a growing tension between them. Brax fussed over her gave up his bed room for her to recover, but as he was leaving one night she grabbed his hand. "You don't have to leave it's your room too."

"Don't worry," he said softly kissing her cheek.

"I don't want you to go," she said trying to speak more plainly. He wondered if she meant what he thought she meant as he looked away but when he looked at her he opened his mouth to speak sheput a finger on his lips. "Surely you must know my feelings for you?"

"I wasn't sure," she heard him mumble into her hair. She felt his arms go around her waist.


"What happened?" the Doctor asked interrupting her train of thought, making him feel like she was only giving the very bare information .

"You know Brax, he'd have survived." ...and will start again. That's what he does. "I hope," she continued unsure now. "I allowed him to get me away from Gallifrey again, but this time I was alone; no Leela or Narvin, just me with all my memories...and even they were in the fob watch thanks to Brax."

The Doctor had to know. "Were you in love with him?"

Romana wondered how you could spend time with Brax and not end up a little bit in love with him. It was quite ironic how different they were considering the Doctor and Braxiatel were brothers. The Doctor had abandoned her so many times but Braxiatel had been the sensible one the one she could depend on.

Ignoring his question she looked away as she bit her lip once more as an ugly sob escaped from her lips

The Doctor froze. He was no good with crying girls and Romana...well he had never seen her cry, she was always the strong one. Even so, he suddenly found himself drawing her into his arms.

After a few calming breaths she pulled away. The truth had been she had loved Brax very much and it was feeling unlikely their paths would ever cross again. The last thing she remembered was hearing a really large explosion which rocked the capital and then she was falling fast through the air but there was no one to catch her this time.

They were gaps in her story or maybe there were things she didn't want to tell him, as if she had suffered some kind of trauma. Maybe she had and maybe she would tell him in her own good time. He gently touched her face and leaned forward to kiss her. She quickly responded, her lips brushed gently against his and there was that familiar feeling between them, even in his new body. He knew his feelings for her was still there and, if Romana stayed with him, he would never be alone again and neither would she.

Not too far away, a tall thin man with dark eyes was also looking for Romana. His name was Irving Braxiatel and he too clutched an opened fob watch and remembered. Brax was back and on a new mission. Without regret he closed the doors on his human life and set out on a journey to recover his past, his friends, and his Romana.

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