Drabble: Hope

[dbskyler]

For ellisbelle, who requested the Third Doctor.



He had known it would kill him, but he did it anyway, because it was the right thing to do.

He's good at it, doing the right thing. Not so good at what comes after. The TARDIS spins in the vortex, and he spins within. He really hadn't thought this through.

He doesn't want to die alone. Having conquered one fear, he now struggles with another.

The shudder of materialization brings him hope. He staggers to his feet and manages to open the door.

"Doctor!"

The sight of her is enough to make him smile.

"The TARDIS brought me home."

Comments

[ellisbelle.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love it! It’s sad but somehow not. And this--

He's good at it, doing the right thing. Not so good at what comes after. The TARDIS spins in the vortex, and he spins within. He really hadn't thought this through.

--is so very the Doctor, no matter what the incarnation—a perfect, concise summary of the heart of his character.

That last scene in “Planet of the Spiders” is tied with the “has a pension” bit from the end of “Peladon” for my favorite Three/Sarah interaction. (And every time since, whenever a random fangirl goes, “OMG, Rose!” I always think: “Please. The TARDIS brought Three home to Sarah.”)

So how painful was it to get to 100? Were you one of the write-too-much people or just-a-few-words-shy people? I always end up at 121 and have to start rearranging and cutting.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

The "Planet of the Spiders" scene is one of my favorites too, which is why I decided to use it for the drabble. (I also briefly flirted with the idea of doing something between the Doctor and the Brig but Sarah won out, what can I say.) And yes, I have had similar thoughts when confronted with Doctor/Rose OTP'ers. I originally was going to title this "Home" but then decided that title might be too corny.

I'm relieved you like it. I think I could have done a better job at showing how the Doctor is feeling rather than all the telling -- more sense impressions, etc. -- but overall I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it all went. I originally under-shot the words, believe it or not, I think because I was so worried about going over. My first word count was 79. Then I started adding and got to a point where I was happy with what I had -- and it was 101! I had a hard time finding that last one word to get rid of, but finally did.