9th Doctor X Reader: Cancer

You were tired. Tired beyond belief. You wanted to sleep. You just wanted to fall into a deep sleep. You wanted to escape the pain and suffering. But you couldn’t. You still held on to the hope that your Doctor would arrive in time.

You had been travelling with the Doctor for a while. Together, the two of you travelled to so many different places and seen many things. Finally, you weren’t feeling well, so you decided to ask if you could go home for a bit. However, he beat you to the punchline. Your jumper wearing, buzz cut, leather jacket draped Doctor told you that where he was going was really dangerous, and he didn’t want to risk your life. So, he dropped you off at your place, kissed your cheek, and whispered promises that he would be back for you.

That was two months ago. Since then, you had been diagnosed with leukemia. Every day was a struggle. You had survived several rounds of chemotherapy and lost all of your hair. Although you were happy to be alive, there was so much pain. The treatments had drained your parents of all of their money. They ended up losing their house. They lived in one car, travelling to work everyday. Your father had recently lost his job, and was arrested for robbing a bank (in order to pay for your treatments). You managed to convince your mother to use whatever money remained, and to sell your jewelry, in order to pay for a lawyer. That was several days ago. The case was still ongoing. Your mother visited when she could and you saw your father over Skype calls.

Honestly, you wanted this pain to end, even if that meant dying. You even told your parents that, even though it broke all of your hearts. Just yesterday, you told the both of them about your adventures with the Doctor. Although they listened with open hearts and ears, you knew that they didn’t believe you.

Each night, you looked out the window, gazing at the stars that you once travelled among. Each night, you wished to see your Doctor one last time.

Suddenly, you heard a familiar whooshing sound. You opened your eyes and watched as  a blue police call box materialized in the corner of your room. The beeping of your heart monitor was drowned out as the TARDIS landed.

Your Doctor came rushing out of the doors, happier than ever. When he saw you in that bed, it was like the world stopped turning-and he felt it. His smile dropped into a look of awe, slight horror, and sadness.

“Hi Doctor.”

Your voice broke the silence. He slowly made his way over to your bed, still in shock over the machines that were attached to you.

“It’s leukemia. I don’t think I’ll have to deal with it for long.”

The Doctor then finally met your eyes.

“I know what you’re meaning, and don’t you dare say that. How can I travel without my best companion?”

“You’ve been without me for 900 years, Doctor. You’ll find someone else,” you told him.

“No one like you though.”

You chuckled and said, “Glad to know that I’m special to someone.”

The Doctor then gently grasped your hands and said, “(y/n), you are everything to me.”

There was a silence in the room before you heard another pair of footsteps. The two of you looked to see your mother, in shock that the person who took you away was real.

“Hi mom. And no, you’re not imagining things. This is the Doctor,” you said.

You mom still stared at him before reaching out to shake his hand, which the Doctor accepted.

“She’s told me that you’ve been everywhere. Please, tell me, on your travels, is there anything that can cure what she has?” your mother begged.

“I wish there was. The universe is a big place, but I never saw a cure for this. I’m sorry,” the Doctor said, then chuckled and continued, “Some doctor I am.”

“Actually, you’re the best.”

The Doctor looked up in confusion to your mother as she continued.

“When she came back from your travels, she seemed happier. The happiest she has ever been. When she got sick, she told me stories about your travels. That gave her the hope to hang on-the hope that you would come back for her.”

The Doctor then looked back at you and said, “But I came back too late.”

       You shook your head and said, “No you didn’t. Doctor, please, can I travel with you one last time? One last hurrah?”

The Doctor gave a sad grin, and his eyes watered before he whispered, “Of course you can.”

He was trying to be strong for you. You could see that he was trying so hard.

You then looked at your mom and asked, “Mom, is it okay if I go?”

She had tears in her eyes, but she silently nodded her head.

“I’ll tell your father that you love him.”

Your family hated saying good-bye. No one ever said it. It was just so hard to.

You nodded, then started to pull yourself away from the bed. The Doctor helped you up and helped unplug you from the machines. The IV left your system, and the heart monitor flatlined as the Doctor disconnected it.

With weary steps, you made your way over to your mother and hugged her, for what was probably the last time. Then, hanging on to the Doctor, the two of you made your way to the TARDIS and entered the blue police call box.

Upon entering, you were greeted with the familiar bigger on the inside console room and a happy hum from the TARDIS.

“It’s nice to see you too, old girl,” you said as the Doctor lead you to the pilot’s chair and helped you sit down.

“Is there, *cough* is there anywhere you wish to go?” the Doctor asked, with his hands in his pockets.

           You thought for a minute before you said, "The most beautiful place ever."

           "Well, there is a lot of them. You know that."

           "Well, there must be one place you think that's really beautiful."

           The Doctor thought for a moment before saying, "I have just the place in mind.”

He then proceeded to the console, dancing around flipping switches, turning knobs, and banging things with his mallet hammer. As the TARDIS flew, you closed your eyes at the sound of the TARDIS’s engines. Those were a sound that you definitely missed, and that you would not forget.

“We’ve arrived.”

You opened your eyes, grabbed onto the Doctor’s open hand, and walked over to the door. When you opened the door, you were surprised at the sight.

You saw yourself and the Doctor. It was the day the two of you first met. Your past self’s (h/c) (h/l) hair gently swung in the wind as she talked to your Doctor.

“Doctor, isn’t this a paradox?”

“Only if they see us.”

There was a pause before he said, “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“What’s beautiful about this?” you asked.

The Doctor looked at you, his eyes full of love, and said, "(y/n), the minute I met you, everything became beautiful. Everywhere I went, it was a better place because you were there with me."

           Your eyes watered, and a tear escaped. That was probably the most romantic thing anyone ever said to you. You tightly hugged the Doctor as he hugged you back-one hand around your waist, the other cradling the back of your head, stroking it with his slightly calloused hands. Your tears stained his leather jacket.

           "Doctor," you sobbed, "how can you love me, even now, with how I look?"

           "You really want to know?"

            You nodded, wanting to know the reason.

            "It's because of who you are on the inside. What’s on the outside is only material. It lasts so long. On the inside, it lasts forever-it shines brighter than what is on the outside. I fell in love with you because of who you are, not how you looked. And you know what? It’s because of that fact that you are still beautiful-you always will be.”

You sobbed a little bit more, but not out of sorrow. You hugged the Doctor a bit tighter and whispered, “I love you, too, Doctor.”

He nodded, kissed your head, and led you back into the TARDIS. He sat you down in the pilot’s chair, gave you his handkerchief, and went back to the console, plotting new coordinates. You wiped your eyes and blew your nose, dirtying his white hanky. When the blue police box landed, you went to hand it back to the Doctor, but he said, “Keep it-you need it more than I do.”

You smiled, stuffed it in the pocket of your pajamas, and let the Doctor lead you out of the TARDIS.

The two of you ended up on a beach, close to the ocean, at night time. He sat you down in the sand and said, “Don’t go anywhere,” before running back to the TARDIS.

You gaze focused on the moon’s reflection on the water. It had the same effect as the sun did. You looked up at the moon and were shocked by the size of it. It was much bigger than the one back home. The Doctor came back with pillows and blankets in his arms. He arranged the pillows around the two of you, lied down next to you, and draped the blanket over the two of you. You also noticed that the moon looked slightly red.

“The 800th lunar eclipse of Lilifore. Just watch,” he whispered.

Eventually, the moon became blood red. Then, the moon’s light reflected on the ocean, turning the water, and even the sand a deep, darker than blood red. It was very beautiful.

You turned to the Doctor, whispered, “Thank you,” and kissed him. He kissed you back with the same amount of passion and sadness.

When it ended, you laid your head on the Doctor’s shoulder. He leaned his face into what remained of your peach fuzz length hair, the eclipse slightly forgotten. The Doctor had his eyes on another thing of beauty.

The warm sand relaxed you. You felt your eyes droop, and you struggled to keep them open. You didn’t want to go. You didn’t want to leave your Doctor.

The Doctor gently kissed your head and whispered, “It’s okay.”

“No it’s not,” you whispered back. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“You never will. You’ll be in my hearts. As long as you’re there, you’ll never leave me.”

A tear leaked from your eyes as they slowly started to close. You looked up at the Doctor. You wanted him to be the last thing you saw.

“Don’t forget me, Doctor,” you sadly whispered.

The Doctor smiled, kissed your lips, and said, “How can I forget the fantastic companion I love?”

You smiled and closed your eyes for the last time.

Good-bye.

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The Doctor stood by your coffin. Everyone else had left, even your parents. They wanted to give the Doctor some time alone with you. After your death, your father had been released from jail for good. Both your mother and father had tears streaming down their face, wondering why the world was so cruel to have parents bury their child.

The Doctor had a single, thornless, blood-red rose in his hand. He walked up to the open casket, and placed it in your folded hands. They were so cold, yet you had a smile on your face. Your parents dressed you in a TARDIS blue dress with a wig on your head to make it look like you still had your hair. But everyone knew the truth.

As the Doctor grasped your cold hands, a tear finally escaped his eyes. The strong facade he kept up finally broke. Now that he was alone, he collapsed on his knees, tears running down his face.

“It’s not fair!” he wept. His shoulders shook with each sob.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar sound that he was almost frightened of. He turned, to see four TARDIS’s materializing before him. He watched as four men stepped out of them. All of them had different companions. He realized that they were to be his future regenerations.

“Why are you here?” he asked, tears shining on his cheeks.

The first one stepped forward and his reddish-brown-headed companion came with him. He had brown spiky hair, and wore a blue pinstripe suit under a brown trenchcoat. He also wore red Converse trainers.

“You won’t remember us coming. We won’t remember the our other regenerations coming. But we had to come,” he told his ninth regeneration.

He then looked at your body, and laid a light pink rose next to the red one. His fingers lingered on your cheek as he kissed your forehead. He then left with his companion and stood outside his TARDIS.

The next one came up. He had brown hair, a youthful appearance, and a black bowtie. Behind him stood a ginger-haired woman and a light brown-haired man.

“We never forgot her,” the 11th Doctor told him. “We never will.”

With tears in his eyes, he laid a red rosebud with its companions, kissed your forehead, and went back to his TARDIS.

The 12th Doctor came over, with an impossible girl behind him.

“How can we forget the person we loved? We had to come-to pay our respects,” he said.

He laid a white rose in your hands, laid his hand on your forehead for a few moments, and went back to his TARDIS.

The final Doctor came over. He had blondish, curlyish hair and sharp cheekbones. He reminded the 9th Doctor of a certain Norse god. He also had the impossible girl.

“To show that we will always love her, and that she lives on in our memories,” he said.

He then laid a lavender rose, kissed your cheeks, and left. The Doctors climbed into their TARDIS’s and vanished.

The Doctor looked at the roses you held. You would have loved it.

He sadly smiled, kissed your lips for the last time, and left in his own TARDIS.

The next day, he did not remember the other visitors. But the one thing he would never forget is you.