As the Doctor learns more about the new Willow, he has a surprise in store.

***

The TARDIS materialised on the other side of a silver and blue waterfall that shimmered beautifully as light reflected through the water. The doors opened and the Doctor stepped out, Willow following in his wake. 

"So, why are we here and why did we take Rose home?" She asked

He scratched the back of his head. "I wanted some time alone with you and... you know, learn more about you."

"You know a lot about me already," Willow stated. "I don't think there's nothing I haven't told you about my life.

"Well, I know all about your life as a human and only a bit of your life of Gallifrey." The Doctor edged closer to her, smiling. "It would be nice to know what led you here."

She hesitated, unsure. "Do you really want to?"

"Yes," He answered. "Koschei told me very little about you, only that he was completely infatuated with you."

"Yeah..." Willow sighed as she glanced at a nearby rock, wandering over to it. "Right, this is going to be a long sort of story, so you might want to take a seat."

The Doctor followed her, crouching down to sit uncomfortably on it. "Not the best seat in the house." He commented.

"Hush, it's storytime." She told, advising him to keep quiet. Willow leaned back slightly, relaxing as she recalled her past, long before she became human. "Well, let's start from the beginning. I was born eight-hundred and ninety-nine years ago. According to my father, my mother left me with him a few days after I was born so I never knew her. I told you all about 'The Untempered Schism' situation but ever since then my father never took me to the Academy and I was basically home-schooled."

"I would have given anything to have that chance." admitted the Doctor. 

She turned to him. "Really? I would have given anything to go to the Academy. I spent over eight-hundred years up that mountain, the only friend I had was Koschei."

"We could have been friends." He realised.

Willow nodded. "Yeah, we could have been if Koschei wasn't so hesitant about talking about you, always referring to you as the "Doctor" ever since you had that psychiatrist's field day."

"Well, as you know my name is a mystery, as is yours."

"Yeah, my father didn't want the High Council finding out who I was, it was safer that way." She explained solemnly. "I did sneak into the Citadel a few times to meet up with Koschei, didn't dare tell my father about that."

"Ah, that's not too bad. I mean, I stole a TARDIS with my granddaughter as an old man." He stated. She guffawed for a bit as the Doctor chuckled along. "I never did ask, what incarnation are you in?"

She stopped, taking some time to think to herself before speaking. "Tenth."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Really? Did you get murdered a lot?"

"No! No!" protested Willow. "My first regeneration happened when I was eight after I used the Time Vortex, it was still inside me during my second incarnation until my father took it out of me. The others were involved in freak accidents because my father was an inventor of Gallifrey." He nodded understandably, continuing to listen to her tales. "My seventh incarnation... I was murdered then..."

He straightened up. "You were? Who tried to kill you?"

Willow hesitated, digging her teeth into her lips. "Koschei..." She muttered, saddened. "I was trying to help him but he... he threw me off a balcony in the Citadel. It was a long way down."

"Oh my- I'm so sorry..." said the Doctor.

"It wasn't your doing was it." She affirmed. "Pretty sure it was after a fight with you during your Sixth or Seventh. Either way, he was really angry and he couldn't help it."

"Do you forgive him?" He wondered.

"I know there's still good in him somewhere... but it's too late now..." She mentioned. "He's gone." Willow could feel tears coming on, but she held them back while changing the subject. "So, anyway, my eighth incarnation died in the Time War while my ninth was severely injured after I teleported myself out of the war before the Time Lock was activated." She glanced his way. "You know my father invented the Moment right?"

He bobbed his head guiltily. "Yeah, I know... sorry again for using it."

"You did what you had to." Willow proceeded, reasonably. "So I managed to land in the Powell Estate where I wanted to start my life over again like my father once advised to me. So I managed to regenerate into a baby, somehow putting the Chameleon Cloak onto to my wrist and removing my memories. Still don't know how I ended up on the Hughes' doorstep though."

"Maybe that's a mystery you'll never learn." The Doctor added to the conversation.

"Perhaps. However, it allowed me to live a new life, a better one to be honest. That's why I still hold Willow to my name. In a sense, I was reborn." She turned to him. "Do you have a story?"

The Doctor huffed, shaking his head. "It's a long and confusing one, not sure you'd want to hear it."

"Oh, come on! I've told you mine so I should know yours." She argued.

He remained silent, lost in thought. The Doctor gulped, sitting up. "Since I could remember, I was the son of a high-born Gallifreyan but I didn't feel like I belonged though. People suggested I should have joined the Army but I wanted to go to the Academy instead, though people doubted that I would ever become a Timelord in the end. You know, me and Koschei made a pact that we would one day visit every star in the universe together. It didn't end up that way."

"I can remember him mentioning that he was going to follow you." recalled Willow. "He suggested I could go with him. I didn't realise the implications at the time but I declined. I think might have pushed him to the edge-"

"Like he pushed you off?" He joked.

She chuckled. "Yeah... in a strange way."

Their conversation was fizzled out as the sound of water rushing beside them added to the ambience. Willow flicked her tongue, wondering what to say next. "Couldn't we have spoken about this in the TARDIS?" She considered. "There's no real reason why we're here."

"I think you'll find there is." The Doctor stood back up, taking Willow's hand and guiding her over to the waterfall. "This is Midnight Falls."

Willow couldn't help but giggle in disbelief. "You know that's a legend right? It says that Midnight Falls is a waterfall that has the ability to create any object you desire. It's a simple myth they told to us as children."

"Well, it sounds like a myth but it's actually a fact because it's right here, falling in front of us." He informed her.

"Prove it then." She challenged.

He stepped closer to the rushing water, closing his eyes and imagining an object in his head. The Doctor forced his hand through the wall of water, clutching onto something. Unexpectedly, he pulled out a fountain pen to the astonishment of Willow. He shrugged. "See?"

Willow's mouth hung open, amazed. "Oh my gosh, that's incredible!"

"Oh, that's nothing." He flicked his wrist, allowing Willow to observe the pen turn to water as if it never existed.

She widened her eyes. "It melted? They never said that in the legend."

"No, it turned back into water." The Doctor corrected her. "I didn't want it and so it did that."

"Why?"

"Because it did, I honestly don't how it does it." He wiped his hands, water droplets splashing off them. "You try."

"Oh, ok..." Willow was anxious at first, hesitant to put her hand through the water. She closed her eyes as she pulled up one of her sleeves whilst imagining a beautiful flowery dress she once saw in a shopping window. In the waterfall, she grabbed ahold of something and yanked out an exact replica of the dress. "Now, that is cool."

"Told you."

She checked the label, noticing it wasn't in her size. "Ah, it's too small. How do I get rid of it?"

"Just think about declining it in your head and it will turn back into water." He informed her.

Willow understood, thinking about how she didn't want it before similarly flicking it away. It melted before her very eyes. "How did you even find this place?"

"Well, in the end, you'll find yourself in all sorts of places because of the TARDIS." mentioned the Doctor.

"The TARDIS probably gets it from me." She explained. "My father said that she was my "sister" because, unlike the other time and space machines he helped grow, this TARDIS has a part of me inside."

"So, I've had a part of you all this time?"

She agreed. "Yeah, I guess you have. Perhaps that's why you fell for me."

He took her hand. "I fell for you because you're the most beautiful girl in the universe. I've had many companions in my lifetime but they never compared to you. Every time I gaze into your eyes, I see a girl who's brighter than the stars herself."

"You're just saying that..." thought Willow, blushing a little.

"I'm not and I can prove it." He stuck his hand back through the water, imagining something in his head. Once he felt the object in his palm, he removed his arm from the waterfall, presenting Willow with a gold engagement ring. The gold was perfectly wrapped over itself with small diamonds embedded. 

Willow gasped, stunned into silence. "Willow, I want to be with you as long as possible. Now I know there's a possibility that we could be together for years, I want to make it official. I love you more than the stars themselves, you helped to reopen my eyes to the universe." The Doctor told her, describing his intense feelings for her. "So, Willow, will you marry me?"

She didn't know what to say, she placed a hand over her mouth in a rush of emotions. This is what she had wanted ever since she was a child, someone willing to spend their life eternally with her. "Yes! Yes!" Willow squealed, giving the Doctor a bright beaming smile in response. He slid the ring onto her finger happily before she leaned in to kiss him. "I love you too."

They continued to passionately kiss one another for a while until Willow eventually broke away. "You know, since we're going to be husband and wife, I should at least know your name."

He took a deep breath but did not frown. "Alright, if you really want to know." The Doctor lent towards her ear, whispering. "My name is Kasterborous."  He spoke in Gallifreyan.

"Wow, I thought it would be something more mysterious," replied Willow.

"It is mysterious!" The Doctor fired back. "Anyway, since I've told you mine I should know yours."

She nodded comprehensively. "You're right. My name's not really that mysterious either, to be honest." Willow edged closer, answering in Gallifreyan. "Raven."

Once she stepped back, the Doctor processed this new information. "I love it!"

"I'm happy you do." She answered, outstretching her arms for another embrace; another in a long line.

***

So, they're getting MARRIED! WHOOP WHOOP!

But the question is, is their relationship going to take a toll when Torchwood come along? Will it survive to the next book?

We'll see.

- Alice ❤