Dr. Who - BBC New Series 28 (24 page)

But I am glad you did, Mum. Cos that’s how I met the most fantastic man (and no, not poor Lance. One day, promise, I’ll tell you the true story of him).

I met the Doctor. He’s an alien, Mum. But I think you guessed that. I’m not sure why you don’t like him much, but I often wonder if it’s cos he took me away, and I think there’s part of you that can’t accept that he’s the one who really changed me. Made me happy. Made me a better person.

I’m sorry, that came out wrong, I’m not blaming you.

You gave me the best life. Really you did. But he shows me there’s more.

You asked how long I plan on staying with him. For Ever. Which, in his line of work, could mean anything.
But I’m not coming home any time soon. I promise I’ll visit more and write more cards. I’ll try and phone more often, too. You wouldn’t believe what he’s done to my mobile –makes the rest of them look like tin cans and a bit of string.

No, we’re not a ‘couple’ – there’s nothing romantic in

him. He’s my friend. He’s my best friend. I hope I’m explaining this to you properly. I couldn’t say it to your face, I had to write it down.

I was going to do it as a speech but then thought as you like letters, I’d actually write one. First time I’ve written a letter that didn’t end ‘yours faithfully’ since Auntie Maureen’s Christmas blouse. What was I, 14? And you know how that turned out – don’t think I’ve written this much since then!

He looks after me, Mum. You have to trust him. I do.

And I hope that if I trust him, you will too. Granddad does. He knows – and please don’t yell at him, it was me who made him promise not to tell you what we do.

Because you’d worry.

Oh Mum – you should see what I see. We’ve been to places, to worlds, to futures and pasts you could only dream about. I think half of them I dreamed up cos they can’t be real. But they are. And everywhere we go, we make a difference. We put things right, we make people happier. That’s what the Doctor is all about. He finds a way for the universe to make sense. And I love him for it.

Because he’s selfless, and I think that’s rubbed off on me a bit but clearly not enough because I should’ve known how much you were hurting. I should’ve known that just coming home for Dad’s anniversary wasn’t enough.

You need me, but he needs me even more.

And that is awful because I love you, Mum, and not being able to be there for you is wrong, but I need you to understand the reason I’m not there more often.

I am going to keep travelling with the Doctor to other

planets, other worlds, and meet aliens and stuff, good ones and a few bad ones, because I’m finally living my life. All these years, I waited for someone like him and I never realised it. But now I know I’m doing the right thing. I feel alive.

And he’ll look after me as much as I look after him.

Trust me when I say I’m safe and I’ll always be safe. And if anything does happen to me (and it better not cos I’ll come back and haunt his skinny little life for ever) I know he won’t leave you wondering. He’ll tell you no matter how hard that would be for him. Because he understands being alone and how wrong that is and I don’t think my little spaceman would wish that on anyone.

I love you, Mum, and by the time you get this (assuming Lukas does what he’s asked) I’ll be long gone again. But that’s the joy of being with the Doctor. I could be back before you know it. Six weeks might have gone for me, six minutes for you.

Take care of Granddad. And that lovely Netty – she’s good for him, and I think you know that now. She’s not trying to be a replacement for Nanna Eileen, she’s an alternative. And it gives him something else to do other than sit in damp allotments all night.

I love you so much and I’ll see you soon.

D

xxx

After reading it twice more, Wilf kissed the signature and carefully put the letter back in the envelope.

He thought about the Doctor, what Donna had said about loneliness. And remembered that sad – so,
so
sad –

look on his face in the rain that night.

He had brought her home. He had faced them, just as Donna had known he would.

Sylvia had a point, too, though. Without Donna to bring him back here, what guarantee was there that he would save Earth next time?

It was too easy to just say ‘Oh well, someone’ll do it’.

Maybe someone else had to stand up, and be ready to be counted.

So Wilf stood up and stared into the stars, feeling the rain beat against his face.

He saluted the night sky.

‘Dunno if you’re out there, Doctor, watching over us.

But I reckon you are. Because I reckon that’s what you do for everyone, on every world, everywhere. But I think we also need to learn to stand on our own two feet, too. Not take you for granted.’

He wiped rain from his eyes – at least, he decided to say it was rain. If anyone asked.

And Wilfred Mott glanced back down from the allotment across West London below, lit up at night.

No aliens seemed to be invading, no supercomputers seemed to be destroying lives.

And he just thought about friendship.

‘Come back soon, Doctor,’ he muttered. ‘Not just when we need you. Pop in for a cuppa one day.’

This book is only in your hands because Justin Richards and Steve Tribe (editors extraordinaire) worked so hard to get it there. I am very, very grateful to them. More than they realise.

Thanks are due to Russell T Davies, who put me on the right path with Donna and Wilf; to Lee Binding for his inspirational cover; to James North in the
Doctor Who
Art Department for his research; and the following people who, quite genuinely, kept me sane when I freaked out: John Ainsworth, Edward Russell, Ben Brown, Lindsey Alford, Brian Minchin, Darren Scott and most especially Joe Lidster.

Also available from BBC Books

as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper:

THE CLOCKWISE MAN

by Justin Richards

THE MONSTERS INSIDE

by Stephen Cole

WINNER TAKES ALL

by Jacqueline Rayner

THE DEVIANT STRAIN

by Justin Richards

ONLY HUMAN

by Gareth Roberts

THE STEALERS OF DREAMS

by Steve Lyons

Also available from BBC Books

as played by David Tennant and Billie Piper:

THE STONE ROSE

by Jacqueline Rayner

THE FEAST OF THE DROWNED

by Stephen Cole

THE RESURRECTION CASKET

by Justin Richards

THE NIGHTMARE OF BLACK ISLAND

by Mike Tucker

THE ART OF DESTRUCTION

by Stephen Cole

THE PRICE OF PARADISE

by Colin Brake

Also available from BBC Books

as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:

STING OF THE ZYGONS

by Stephen Cole

THE LAST DODO

by Jacqueline Rayner

WOODEN HEART

by Martin Day

FOREVER AUTUMN

by Mark Morris

SICK BUILDING

by Paul Magrs

WETWORLD

by Mark Michalowski

WISHING WELL

by Mark Morris

THE PIRATE LOOP

by Simon Guerrier

PEACEMAKER

by James Swallow

Also available from BBC Books:

ISBN 978 1 846 07291 8

£14.99

Do you know what was playing

on Cassanda’s iPod?

What was the name of

Shakespeare’s lost play?

Where were the Slitheen planning to hide a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?

There’s no need to search time and space – it’s all right here. From Autons to Anne Droid, from Cat Nuns to Canary Wharf, from Plasmavores to Pig Slaves… everything you need to know about everything you didn’t know you needed to know about
Doctor Who
.

Also available from BBC Books

as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:

ISBN 978 1 846 07420 2

UK £6.99 US $11.99/$14.99 CDN

Castle Extremis – whoever holds it can control the provinces either side that have been at war for centuries.

Now the castle is about to play host to the signing of a peace treaty. But as the Doctor and Martha find out, not everyone wants the war to end.

Who is the strange little girl who haunts the castle? What is the secret of the book the Doctor finds, its pages made from thin, brittle glass? Who is the hooded figure that watches from the shadows? And what is the secret of the legendary Mortal Mirror?

The Doctor and Martha don’t have long to find the answers – an army is on the march, and the castle will soon be under siege once more…