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By Root 621 0

her on to his lap. 'Let me dry you off She rocked listlessly under his vigorous rubbing, eyes still shut. 'I been gone for two days. Didn't you miss me?'

'I thought maybe you died.'

"That's a mean thought.' He gave her a vicious pinch. She squirmed and slapped his hand. 'We ain't going to have any more mean thoughts like that. Things are going to be different.'

'Oh, yeah?'

He put his lips to her ear. 'What'll you do when you love me? Bring me treasure from the bottom of the sea?'

'I ain't ever gonna love you, Vern!'

'You did once.'

'I owed you,' she spat. "That's all. You don't know the difference. Let goV

She twisted to her feet, groping for the dark glasses. He grabbed her from behind. She swatted at him, but he pulled her back on to his lap and held her.

'My own little wife don't love me. That's so sad.' He stuck out his tongue and ran it slowly up her neck. 'Whatever am I going to do it

'Just quit it, Vern!'

'I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to work a spell.' She froze. He nuzzled at her neck. 'You hear me, honey?'

'You damn fool,' she said dully. 'You stole that charm, didn't you?'

Chapter Three

The City of the Dead

"There, you see,' said Fitz. 'A murder!'

'You sound happy about it,' Anji snapped, walking even faster.

'Not happy.' Fitz sped up to match her pace. 'Just justified.'

'I don't see why. It seems to me that you had two disconnected things - the charm and the Doctor's dream - and now you have three.'

'But the charm was stolen during the murder.'

'Apparently that policeman isn't sure of that.'

But the Doctor is, Fitz thought, even if he hasn't said so. And so am I.

'Hang on, this is our street.'

She turned sharply. 'Are you sure this is the block?'

'Yeah. Is something wrong, Anj? Or is it just too much coffee?'

To his alarm, her eyes filled with tears. They stood awkwardly on the corner, looking at each other, people pushing past them. 'Oh ' she said helplessly.

He took her arm and ducked through an iron gate. They found themselves in the garden behind the cathedral, overhung with ivy-draped trees and overlooked by an elevated marble statue of Christ. There were a few moulded cement benches. Fitz and Anji sat on one. She looked down, embarrassed. 'I'm sorry.'

'It's all right. But I wish you'd tell me what -'

'It's so long since I've been on Earth. Since I've smelted it. It doesn't smell like any other place we've been. I feel like I've gone back into a house I used to live in.'

'You mean it smells like home.'

She shook her head. 'Like the past.'

Fitz didn't say anything. He thought of patting her hand but wasn't sure how she'd take it. Her head was bent, her smooth black hair glossy in the sunlight. She whispered, 'I miss Dave.'

'It's this city,' he said. 'All this death stuff - the cemetery, the murder, the weird shops.' Even the sensuality, he thought - the eating and the drinking and the ribaldry. In New Orleans, you really knew you lived in a body, which meant you could never quite forget what was finally going to happen to that body. To all bodies. Even the Doctor's someday. He shivered and did take her hand. She didn't object. 'Maybe you should think about that beach. Seriously.'

She sniffed and wiped her eyes. 'I'd feel like a& I don't know. Not a coward exactly. A quitter.' She removed her hand from his and searched her handbag for a tissue.

"That's silly'

'Is it?'Anji blew her nose. 'Why does he inspire such loyalty? Why do we think we ought to be helping him and looking out for him?'

'Because he's good,' said Fitz simply. 'He's bigger than we are, somehow.

More full of life.'

'If he's so big, why do I feel like he needs protecting? You do, too.

Sometimes it's like he's your little brother.'

Fitz smiled at the idea of being an elder brother to the centuries-old Doctor, but he didn't contradict her. 'Well, things that are good - they're always vulnerable, aren't they? Rare. Easy to destroy. You know, I don't think the Doctor quite gets evil, not really, no matter how much he's