dreaming again of a

“That’s not possible,” Bill breathes, yet she takes off running toward a face she only knows from pictures, a face with a kind smile and life in her eyes, a person that Bill thought she'd never see in the flesh.Bill knows it's her mother the moment the woman’s arms wrap around her. Her clothes smell exactly the same as Bill remembers, a scent trapped in memories, that exact mix of powder deodorant and orange juice.It's impossible, but Bill can't bring herself to care.---The Doctor carries so many ghosts. Too many ghosts. People who lived for her and died for her. Many spring to mind: Adric, Harriet Jones, Astrid, the Face of Boe, Jenny, River, and so many others. This universe could offer any of them to her. It could summon any face, and yet from the moment that she hears Bill say "Mom!," she knows that only one face could have any chance at tempting her to stay.So the Doctor is not surprised when she opens the door to the stairway and a familiar mischievous smile and ruinously hopeful brown eyes greet her beneath blonde hair and above a blue jacket.(This is a story about ghosts. It has always been a story about ghosts. And so it is a story about love.Or, It Takes You Away.)