//THE TIARA

Brooke's heart was racing as she walked over to Danes' dorm. She felt sick- and she was quite sure it wasn't just leftover morning sickness. Her hearts were in her mouth as she walked down the hall to his room and knocked, wrapping her arms unconsciously around her stomach.

She had no idea how he would react.

They hadn't even talked about kids. It was a painful subject for her, and so she'd never brought it up. And now she was pregnant, out of the blue, and it could only be his. She was frightened beyond belief. He was so young, and she was scared he'd just leave.

And she was more scared that he wouldn't.

She knocked again, shifting from one foot to another. What was taking him so long?

accepted. No time limit specified, so I choose 36 hours. 

//picaresque-sidekick, I choose you

It’d been a complete accident, the flick of a reflex.

Danes had surprised her.

She hadn’t known who it was.

It had been instinct, the embers of training still smoldering within her. Brooke’s eyes were wide. Dry, dry because she was in so much shock. She caught Danes as he fell and let out a little, angry scream.

"Danes… no- I- I didn’t- Danes!" 

She burned everyone she knew. Nobody was safe around her. 

"Right," the Doctor clapped his hands together and rubbed them, looking up at Brooke from across the console. "Now, the first rule of flying is-" 

"-Always turn on the blue stabilizers," River interrupted, breezing into the room and pressing a blue button on the console. The TARDIS began to hum softly. 

The Doctor shot her a displeased glare. “Excuse me, I’m the one teaching her how to drive. And those are blue boringers, River, they make everything boring.” He reached over and threw a lever, turning the blue stabilizers off. 

River pressed the button again, petulantly. “No, they’re stabilizers. And if she’s ever going to fly where she wants to, she needs them on.” 

"What’s the next rule?" Brooke prodded, interrupting their banter with a little smirk as she leaned against the console.

"-There isn’t one!" 

"-turn the brakes off before landing!" 

The Doctor and River looked at each other.

He leaned on the console, gripping it with a long-suffering sigh. River folded her arms and shifted from one hip to the other, biting the inside of her cheek and rolling her eyes. One could almost see the clouds of frustration brewing over their heads.

"Am I teaching her or are you?" the Doctor finally huffed, throwing a lever.

"Well, that’s a question of whether or not we want to teach her properly or whether or not you want her careening through time and space," River shot back, tossing her curls.

His head shot up and he positively seethed. “We get where we need to go. I fly her just fine.”

"You leave the brakes on."

"Minor choice of flight style."

"Not a chance, sweetie."

"-Alright!" Brooke snapped, crossing her own arms and rolling her eyes. "Dear Gallifrey, how old are you? We’ll flip on it." She produced a quarter from her pocket. "Alright, mum, heads or tails." 

River looked very cross about it, but finally said, “Tails.”

"Heads, then," the Doctor complied begrudgingly.

Brooke flipped the coin.

Heads up.

"Ha!" the Doctor clapped his hands together again, bouncing on the balls of his feet and then promptly spinning into a pirouette, coattails flying.