STEALING EDEN Part One (Continued)

Lynda composed herself after a time and said to Peri, "I'm ready to apologize now." She looked for the Doctor, but he had left.

"Let's go find him, shall we?" Peri said, and together the two of them walked down the corridors to the console room, where the Doctor stood watching the scanner. Peri cleared her throat as she entered the room.

"Doctor," Lynda began, "I'm not sure why you should have bothered trying to save me. I've been such a pain to you both since I've been here. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted, Lynda." He turned and walked to the console and began punching in some numbers on a keyboard. "We'll have you home before too long."

"We hope," said Peri.

"My doubting associate excepted," he playfully grumbled. "Lynda, do you know why I am here?"

"Philosophically or geographically? I thought you had to rescue me; isn't that why you came to find me?

"Rescue you?" the Doctor chuckled. "No, you aren't that important to the scheme of the universe." Lynda growled at him. "You see, Lynda Day, you happened to dedicate your book to myself and to Peri; and as we hadn't actually ever met you, we sort of had to make the introduction to complete the circle, shall we say? Would you like to read what you wrote?"

"Who ever reads the introductions to books?" Lynda asked sarcastically?

"Oh, you might just want to," he said. Peri was smiling broadly as she watched this.

"Have you read it, Peri?"

"Yes, Lynda. I know what you're going to do."

The Doctor flipped her the book. "Don't even think of peeking anywhere else, Lynda." She opened the book and read:  

THE INTRODUCTION

I'd finished the manuscript and handed it over to my editor. She asked, "Where is the introduction." I said, "Who reads introductions? Waste of time." She said "Don't you have anyone you want to thank?"

"Not really," I said. "I did all the work, and if I thank Spike, it'll go to his head." She said, "Thank somebody or else. Make up someone if you have to, but just do it before I strangle you here and now." So here I am.

 Once upon a time, I met a wandering alien physician and his human companion while orbiting the Earth. He told me to straighten up and fly right or I'd lose everything that ever mattered to me. He was right about all that. True, I am still a bitch. I love being a bitch. It is what I do best, and how I've gotten to be so famous, some idiots pay me a couple million to write about what a bitch I am. I'm really a nice bitch, when I choose to be, and I choose to be a lot more often than I once did. Maybe that's not a great personal improvement, but I'm livable now, and only half the people I meet want to kill me.

 So, thank you Doctor and Peri for looking after me. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused, and I'll buy you two dinner next time you're visiting Earth. By the way.....Lynda, when you read this, here's a hint for you. The next time you see Spike, I have a message for you to give him. Three little words....

When Lynda saw what those three little words were, her mouth dropped open in disbelief.

There was a great deal of laughter in the TARDIS console room that night. Lynda was sitting in a chair getting her second make-up job of the evening. She had just finished scaring Colin Matthews out of his new job and back into her employ at the Junior Gazette, with a little help from the Doctor's holographic projector and some very convincing special effects. Now she was wearing the dress she'd had on while trapped in the fire, and having Peri make her up with some soot the Doctor found in an old stove buried in some supply cupboard found somewhere in that endless TARDIS of his, as well as faking a nasty cut on her cheek.

"You look terrible," the Doctor smiled. "Well done, Peri."

"Ugh," Peri chuckled. "She smells terrible, too. This is the strangest way I've ever seen anyone

pick up a guy before."

"You know Spike," Lynda said with a grin. "I want to be looking my worst for him."

"Lynda," Peri asked, "are you really going to..."

Lynda shrugged. "This is all insane, but who am I to argue?" She turned to the Doctor. "Colin's hair won't always be white, will it?"

"I think it was just residue from the flash powder," the Doctor said. "I don't think we could scare him that well."

The console stopped bobbing and the Doctor flipped the scanner on. The exterior was a darkened room, but nothing much else could be seen. "Time to go, Lynda," he said.

"Are you coming with me?" she asked.

"Certainly not," he replied--surprised even to be asked. "We would be intruding on a very personal moment."

Peri piped up "Normally I'd agree, but this is so weird...."

"....You want to see how it comes out," Lynda finished her sentence. "I have nothing to hide, and I'd like to make sure I'm in Spike's house on the right date at the right time and not in 1622 or on Venus. That way, if you're wrong, I can wring your neck, Doctor."

"Have a little faith, please, Lynda." The Doctor reached for a lever and pulled it. The door slowly opened. Lynda hugged Peri and wished her well. She then smiled at the Doctor.

"I owe you one, clown," she said, and then gave him a passionate embrace and kiss before walking through the doors and out of the TARDIS.

"So, do you still think you're dreaming," Lynda asked Spike after he'd kissed her.

"I don't think so," he replied. "I've never had a dream that smelled this bad before.

"I've been thinking a lot," she said.

"Thinking's good."

"I know how you felt when you almost died."

"You've said that before."

"Some of us are slow learners. We have to keep dying to learn our lesson."

"You're just lucky you got back."

"Yes, I am." She kissed him. "So, who else have you told I was dead?"

"I called Kenny, and Sam, and Sarah.....but most of the news team already assumed it.

They couldn't find a body in there. It was burned so badly, we all just assumed...."

"It's okay. I'd have assumed, too." Lynda was quiet for a few seconds. "You called Sarah?"

"Sarah would have wanted to know. She's on her way in from university. She insisted."

"Well, she'll be very surprised. Should I jump out of a closet and scare her?" Lynda asked with an innocent look on her face.

"Lynda....." Spike said, "You might wind up dead for real if you do that."

She smiled. "Remember those three little words you always wanted me to say?"

Spike smiled. "Yes. Would you like to say them now?" he said, as he pulled her closer.

She kissed him. "No." Spike looked puzzled, and perhaps a little angry. "I thought of

three different ones."

"Which are?" he asked.

She swallowed hard and looked over Spike's shoulder. There, peeking around the corner of the door were Peri and the Doctor, trying ever so hard not to be noticed. Then she relaxed.

"Spike," she began.

"That's one word."

"You can count!" she said proudly.

"And you can stall," he said tiredly.

"When I'm done, I'll let you have the last word. Just this once, 'cause I'm feeling generous after dying."

"Very nice of you, Lynda. The other two words, please."

"Marry me," she said simply. She waited for a reply. Spike looked absolutely stunned and said nothing. "For the record, when presented with the chance to have the last word, Spike Thomson said nothing." She kissed him again, looked at the clock, and shook her head. "Poor dear, it'll be light soon and then you'll know you weren't dreaming. I'm going to get myself cleaned up, fix you breakfast, and then we've got a story to write." As she got off the bed and began to leave the bedroom, Spike finally spoke.

"Which story? The Gazette's, or ours?"

From somewhere in the house came a strange wheezing and groaning, prompting Lynda to roll on to the bed, laughing herself silly. Spike looked at her with utter amazement. "Our story is right here, Spike," she said, as she showed him a certain book that the Doctor was somewhere in the universe searching his pockets for at that very moment.

On To Part Two