misscam: (TARDIS!Worship)
[personal profile] misscam
Today's Not Over Yet
by Camilla Sandman

Rating: PG. Nothing worse.

Summary: Tomorrow, the world is ending, and today, he is happy. [Eighth Doctor with special guest stars.]

Author's Note: For [livejournal.com profile] insaneizzi in the Easter Egg Fic Exchange. Requests:
-Balldresses and dancing.
-Any Doctor from 1-8
-Any mention of old planes, trains or automobiles.
Prompt 038 for [livejournal.com profile] 50lyricsfanfic - It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine (It's the End of the World (as we know it) - REM) Eight Doctor, implied spoilers for the 2005 series. Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] lotus79 for help.

Table of Prompts

II

After

II

Tomorrow, the world is ending, and today, he is happy.

He goes to London, May 1945, watching the people rejoice and the war be over. He snogs complete strangers. Complete strangers snog him. He sings all the wrong words to songs and no one cares. He dances with an old woman in the street to silent music, and she rests her head on his shoulder and sighs. Just once, just happy.

Tomorrow, she's going to die, he knows. But then, so is he.

He takes Leonardo DaVinci flying, and is miffed when Leonardo steals his design. He crashes into a field with the Wright brothers, but assures them they're on the right track and it'll work very soon, and by the way, have they ever considered police box design for flying?

He sees two turns of the millenium - one with drunk Englishmen in a sportsbar, one with drunk Vikings in a longhouse, or was it other way around? He wears a Viking helmet and finds it a bit boring, so he sticks horns on it.

Tomorrow, it's going to be a fashion high-point, he thinks. But then, so he's always been.

He dances at a ball with Queen Elizabeth, and she compliments him on his wig. He compliments her on her dress and wonders why she seems so keen on having him remove it later. He runs a bit because Queens aren't too fond of no, and a little more because guards are fond of Queens.

He runs into Lord Byron in a bar, and completes "Don Juan" for him, but unfortunately spills beer all over it. He doesn't feel too bummed. The rest of it was rather pants, he feels.

He crashes the Tzar train on the Trans-Siberian railway, but that's not his fault, they really shouldn't label any switches 'do not press under any circumstances'. Sadly, the Tzar doesn't quite see it like that, and he finds out just how cold Siberia is.

He goes to see Charley and tells her a lot of silly things because he doesn't want her to remember the important things when thinking of him. She tells him a lot of things he doesn't listen to, as habit has it, but her presence feels like a lull, and her voice holds a lullaby.

Tomorrow, she won't know he's dead. But then, he never expected to be mourned.

He has tea with the Brigadier in stunning sunshine and forgets that he feels cold. He watches children play cricket and wonders if he ever really grew up. Maybe he just grew old, and he's still no age at all. He bats a little with them when they ask, loses willingly until they mock his haircut and then he bats a century and marvel at how fast it goes.

He gets his hair cut by Alfophonic of 4678, and goes to see Grace to get her opinion. She just laughs, and he just laughs, and he snogs her a little for old times sake. He doesn't ask her to come with him again, and she doesn't refuse him again, and he can live with that.

He goes to London, 1964 and watches Susan cross the street, the sun bouncing off bright cars and onto her, and there's still not enough light on her, he thinks. She should shine even more, because she's his, and that's the brightest light of all. A Morris honks at her and he dares three words that she won't hear, but that he will still have said.

Tomorrow, she won't have a home, but then, he never did have one. Except maybe one place, and he goes back to it.

He sits in his TARDIS and listens to his ship, ever beautiful in its noise, ever faithful in its somewhat-unreliability, ever his. The message from Gallifrey still waits to be answered on the screen, and he knows it's almost time. The war is waiting, and the hammerstroke might be his.

But for now, he just wants to remember how it was to be the Doctor. No one else will, after all.

Tomorrow, the Doctor is sure he will die. But then, the Universe was always a bit of a rebel too.

Tomorrow, the world's ending and he's not.

II

Before

II

He goes to sit on a bench in London sometime in the 1990s for no other reason than it's there. He just sits, trying not to think, trying not to feel, trying to feel alive when death's already calling. He can feel the impatience of himself, wanting to answer the summons, wanting to go to his death, wanting to spring into action and do something.

But another part of him, the odd that has already analyzed the information from Gallifrey, the one who has narrowed down the choices and found them all horrifying, that part is howling.

He sits and sits, until he feels a hand on his knee, a young girl looking at him, her blonde hair bright in the sun.

"Are you sad?"

"Yes," he says, because he has no one else to say it to and the Universe can overwhelm you with silence. "What would you do if it was your last day on Earth?"

"Be happy."

He looks at her a little, astonished at the simplicity and the difficulty of her answer both.

"And get a red bike," she adds.

She walks away and he stands still, feeling the Earth turn underneath him, hurling through time and space without pause. Somewhere, a Dalek fleet is hurling towards Gallifrey, and Gallifrey is hurling towards silence. He can feel it, feel the waiting choice thunder in his mind. Wherever he goes, death always waits.

We're waiting for you, Time Lord.

Maybe there's a moment to be stolen still. Maybe there's a dance to be had. Maybe there's a plane to fly. Maybe there's happiness.

Tomorrow, the world's ending.

Today's not over yet.

II

FIN

Date: 2006-04-09 06:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dark-aegis.livejournal.com
Oh, wow. I adore this, Cam! It's Eight, and it's Eight as he should be written. Caring, and joy, but trying to live just before he is faced with the inevitable. Kudos to you for this one. And I certainly hope that you'll foray into past Doctors again sometime :)

Date: 2006-04-09 08:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misscam.livejournal.com
Aaw, thank you.

And yes, I shall. I have to try at least one Five, plus I have vague plotbunnies of doooom involving all ten of them. Eek.

Date: 2006-04-09 08:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dark-aegis.livejournal.com
Plot bunnies of dooom? *grins* This the 'Rose has "had" him all' fic? ;)

And yay for Five! *grins* *uses her Seven icon, just 'cause*

Date: 2006-04-09 06:39 pm (UTC)
falena: illustration of a blue and grey moth against a white background (Default)
From: [personal profile] falena
Whoa, what an emotional rollercoaster. This little gem had me amused, sad, nostalgic and hopeful in a matter of minutes. Eeeeh!

The last section made me squee really, really loud.

And I'm really surprised I enjoyed this so much, since I know absolutely nothing about Eight.

But then again the Cam rarely disappoints!

Date: 2006-04-09 08:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misscam.livejournal.com
The Doctor is the Doctor and thus loveable, me thinks. Eight's nice, really, even if the movie is pants.

And thanks, even if you always give me fear for my next fic :P

Date: 2006-04-09 07:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 20thcenturyvole.livejournal.com
That was wonderful. My favourite parts were the old lady, Susan crossing the street and miss-red-bicycle-when-she-was-twelve. All just beautiful.

Date: 2006-04-09 08:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misscam.livejournal.com
Thank you.

Date: 2006-04-09 07:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] drakyndra.livejournal.com
Okay, I have only seen some (very) brief clips of Eight, but what you did here was wonderful. So very him, and beautiful and sad, and those tiny little hints of things, of Susan and the red bicycle girl ;), and the random snoggage, and the hope and sadness, and ah!

Just beautiful, really.

Date: 2006-04-09 08:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misscam.livejournal.com
Thanks! Always tricky the first time you write a new character - or new incarnation of a character, as the case may be.

But I think I shall mainly stick with Nine and Ten, oh yes.

Date: 2006-04-09 07:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vaskalcorp.livejournal.com
I liked that.

Date: 2006-04-09 08:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misscam.livejournal.com
Heh, thanks. This part of your kinder troll ways, then? :P

Date: 2006-04-09 08:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vaskalcorp.livejournal.com
I don't read much Dr Who fanfic, but I started on this one and realised with some surprise I'd reached the end and liked it.

When it comes to feedback to writers I tend to give positive feedback if I have any :) This is a part of the writer in me as opposed to the troll in me.

Sadly, the troll part gets all the girls.

Date: 2006-04-09 09:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dune-drd.livejournal.com
This is wonderful, simply wonderful.

Date: 2006-04-09 09:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wendymr.livejournal.com
Lovely - poignant and desperately sad, given that we know what's coming, but also with notes of hope.

I liked Eight. Shame he never got his own proper TV series. Loved that he met young Rose. So presumably Nine recognised her again later? Going to write that story for us, too? ;)

Date: 2006-04-09 09:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aervir.livejournal.com
I haven't even seen or heard anything of Eight yet (I think Paul McGann's a lovely guy, though :D), but I do like this very, very much. It just sounds so perfectly Doctor-ish, all of it, no matter his incarnation.

And I was howling with laughter at the following bit (Yes, I'm rather predictable...):

He runs into Lord Byron in a bar, and completes "Don Juan" for him, but unfortunately spills beer all over it. He doesn't feel too bummed. The rest of it was rather pants, he feels.

Date: 2006-04-09 11:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] siraj.livejournal.com
... *sniffles despite himself* 'scuse me... *goes to get the tissues*

Date: 2006-04-10 07:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] iristigerlily.livejournal.com
Beautiful. Perfect Eight and cute cameo of Rose :D

Date: 2006-04-10 08:54 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Oh I really enjoyed that! The blonde headed girl and red bike was a superb touch too. I think (from my limited knowledge of the 8th Doctor -thank heavens for Shada etc. being online) he was written excellently.

Date: 2006-04-11 12:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] insaneizzi.livejournal.com
Ooh!
Thankyou for writing this for me, 'tis beautiful.

Date: 2006-04-12 12:16 am (UTC)
ext_9872: (Default)
From: [identity profile] zauberer-sirin.livejournal.com
This is so brilliant I have no words for it. The style is so perfect, the rhythm feels like an old, beautiful song. All the little details, the little historical and impossible details that just make me smile, and feel nostlagia at the same time.

He goes to see Charley and tells her a lot of silly things because he doesn't want her to remember the important things when thinking of him. She tells him a lot of things he doesn't listen to, as habit has it, but her presence feels like a lull, and her voice holds a lullaby.

This is my favourite bit.

The Susan bit also broke my heart.

He sits and sits, until he feels a hand on his knee, a young girl looking at him, her blonde hair bright in the sun. <--- a lot of squee.

And the ending is very fitting, rebelling like the Doctor.

(also, i totally fangirl you because... Eight Doctor fic! He is so much love)

Date: 2006-04-15 08:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] disconnecty.livejournal.com
This is great -incredibly poignant.

I've friended you. Hope you don't mind.

Date: 2006-04-19 04:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mahala.livejournal.com
That was beautiful.

I can't wait to see the movie. But even without a feel for Eight, the whole thing was so very Doctor.

Love how he could intersect with Rose without knowing Rose or even her name, and still fulfill the bike canon.

Love the haircut and the snogs.

Mostly, love how he's cramming all these things into the space of 'a day'. It illustrates that old skool attitude, that sheer love of life, eat-drink-for-tomorrow-we-die (for our planet), and makes some sense out of Nine's character.

/babblement

Date: 2006-04-25 11:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] taraljc.livejournal.com
I only just found this. OMG TEH LUFF. And I'm now picturing the EIght Doctor with Paul McGann's veryvery short hair, and it pleases me muchly.

Date: 2006-05-15 04:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] redeem147.livejournal.com
I was pointed to this by Time and Chips. I love it. Wonderfully done.

Date: 2006-05-15 09:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lessien-c.livejournal.com
Awwww! Poor Eight! *pets him*
Fantastic fic.

Date: 2006-05-15 09:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] volkhvoi.livejournal.com
From Time and Chips. Good fic.

Date: 2006-05-18 05:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nekare.livejournal.com
I don't know anything about Eight, and yet I absolutely loved this because it kinda goes further than 'this or that incarnation' and it portraits just the Doctor - his inquisitive nature and a bit of his EMO ANGST that has been so important in the new series.

Loved the part about him running away from Queen Elizabeth, and the Rose bit was just lovely. :)

Date: 2006-05-18 07:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sparklechick268.livejournal.com
Wow, just... Wow.
I love your fics, and this one just blew me away. It flows together so beautifully and effortlessly. And I love how you included Rose. Be happy. Such a simple thing, yet so complex.
*♥s this*
Fantastic.

Date: 2006-05-18 08:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanmary14.livejournal.com
I'm desperately trying to not get sucked into another fandom but with writing like this it's a losing battle. You write with such amazing rhythm. I particularly liked this line...."and he dares three words that she won't hear, but that he will still have said." It captures the sadness that is at the core of the Doctor.


Date: 2006-05-18 08:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fondued-jicama.livejournal.com
Lovely. I've never seen Eight, but I'm very fond of Paul McGann (he makes a wonderful Bush in Horatio Hornblower)...and of course your writing makes me feel like I know him anyways.

Date: 2006-05-18 08:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] canadian-kazz.livejournal.com
Wonderfull. I don't know a lot about 8, but after 9 and 10 he's my fave. :) Keep up the fantastic work. (And congratulations!) XD

Date: 2006-05-22 09:58 pm (UTC)
fyrdrakken: (Default)
From: [personal profile] fyrdrakken
Got pointed over here by [livejournal.com profile] vulgarweed, and even without having seen or heard anything with Eight I think it was brilliant. As already pointed out above, you seem to put your finger right on some traits Nine and Ten share that are probably Doctor commonalities.

Date: 2006-05-22 10:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misscam.livejournal.com
:) Thank you.

Date: 2006-10-19 11:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] m31andy.livejournal.com
Bwahahahah!

I *love* your icon!!!

Date: 2006-10-19 03:45 pm (UTC)
fyrdrakken: (Default)
From: [personal profile] fyrdrakken
Hah, thanks! Actually one of the ones I did make myself, though there are eleventy billion others out there riffing off the same Yoda line for various later versions of the Doctor.

Date: 2006-06-07 11:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] saintmaverick.livejournal.com
this just broke my heart. and i loved every minute of it!

Date: 2006-10-18 04:08 pm (UTC)
ext_3548: (Default)
From: [identity profile] shayheyred.livejournal.com
Here via Crack Van, and very happy to have read this story. Eight is my favorite Doctor (for the actor, not the movie) and I loved the wistful sadness of things ending you've captured so beautifully here. But the Doctor goes on, and there is hope in your story, too. Thanks for writing it.

Date: 2006-10-19 10:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misscam.livejournal.com
Thank you :)

fangirl, in the van, happy.

Date: 2006-10-19 08:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladytiamat.livejournal.com
Hi, I'm here via Crack Van. Thank you! Thank you for a wonderful 8th Doctor story that really captured his joie-de-vivre without making him an idiot, or a child. I think he's one of the most complicated of the Doctors, because of the brief screen-span combined with the books and the audios, but you managed to touch on everything just right. And the defiance at the end was AWESOME. Thanks again.

Re: fangirl, in the van, happy.

Date: 2006-10-19 10:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misscam.livejournal.com
I have only really seen the movie and had some of the audios summarized to me, but I'm planning on getting a few of them, as I hear they're good. Glad the character rang true for you :)

Date: 2006-10-19 09:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deltachild.livejournal.com
This is so sad and beautiful, but so very perfect as well. Sent my mind spiralling off and then gave it a hug right at the end :) Lovely piece of writing.

Date: 2006-10-19 10:42 pm (UTC)

Date: 2006-10-19 11:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] m31andy.livejournal.com
Here via [livejournal.com profile] crack_van.

A superb piece of writing. So very Doctor indeed.

Date: 2006-10-19 10:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misscam.livejournal.com
Thank you.

Date: 2006-10-19 11:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] budclare.livejournal.com
Eee, Eight! Shiny. :)

Date: 2007-01-24 05:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] baffledking.livejournal.com
Really lovely.

Date: 2007-08-24 03:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lillilynn.livejournal.com
That was great. Always did think Eight got gypped on screen time and there just aren't that many good fics out there. I love the hesitation in him, the reluctance to answer the summons. And the big ed button THAT SHOULD NOT BE PRESSED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! How prophetic.

Date: 2007-09-13 08:16 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
That was wonderful. I really liked it.

Date: 2008-01-26 08:59 pm (UTC)
ext_2955: black and white photo of flying birds and a lamp-post (Default)
From: [identity profile] azdaja-dafema.livejournal.com
This is really lovely. Great characterisation and I love how the timeold question of what to do on your last day is dealt with when owning a time machine.

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