Nobody Knows The Trouble Ive Seen (Doctor and Othala)

Othala sighed. She was getting more and more worried about the Doctor and had even gone to speak with the still terrifying Raven to find out if she knew of anything that she could do to cheer him up, but she didn't know of anything and she couldn't seem to make the Doctor any better either. Of course he still spent time with her and still paid attentions but...it always seemed like he was wanting to do something else, like she wasn't important enough for him any more, he seemed to always be thinking of doing other things.

So not knowing what to do or who to go to, quite simply because there was nobody else to talk to about this, she had decided to have a good long conversation with herself in the Room of Mirrors, for debates, she had been told it was often best to make different arguments with yourself, and this certainly was an issue worth debating, what was she going to do, if indeed she could do anything?

Sitting on the cool stone floor Othala sighed, she was lonely, and she didn't know what to do, all around her people were developing new friendships, developing romances, and here she was...stuck in very much the same position as when she came to Durmstrang, of course now, she didn't sound quite so silly and could most definately read, it was all she seemed to do now.

Taking a long look at herself, Othala opened her mouth to start her debate.

The Doctor had heard some of the ward alert him to someone being in the Room of Mirrors and had almost silently accepted it and returned to his work. Teenagers at school sometimes needed periods of reflection after all. But not this time. He noticed that the wards told him it was Othala.

Entering the room after knocking a few times, The Doctor noticed that Othala had been having a debate with some of her reflections in the mirros of this room,

"Hello there Othala." he greeted her with a small smile, touching one of the freezing cold mirrors, "People come here to reflect on their lives... do you want to talk about something?"

Othala frowned when she heard someone coming into the room, surely they would just turn around and leave her alone, she hadn't even begun to get the answers that she wanted from the conversation with the mirrors and she sighed lightly. Hopefully the person would go away when she glared at them, it often seemed to work when she did that.

Turning around when she heard that it was the Doctor Othala kept the frown on her face, why did he choose now of all times to come and talk to her about what was wrong? When she was trying to take matters into her own hands and stop waiting for him to come to her. She just wondered if he was actually going to be interested in talking to her now instead of merely brushing what she said to one side.

"I don't want to talk about anything with you, thank you Doctor." she stated in a huff folding her arms around her chest "I came here to puzzle the problem out on my own, if you must know."

The Doctor could see plainly that at least part of the problem was the deteriorating relationship between the two of them. Of course she was a proud little girl and was unlikely to admit that straight to his face. Just like she was too proud to admit that she was going to need to talk to him to figure this one out.

Sighing a little bit he waved his wand, conjuring two arm chairs for them. Sitting down in one, facing her, he steepled his fingers in front of him in thought as he stared into her eyes. From what he could tell the problem might actually be more than a little bit his fault,

"You might not want to." he agreed as he looked into her eyes seriously, "But a large part of you knows that you will have to talk to me about it. I'm part of the problem after all... right?"

Othala sighed, like she had been doing so often lately, she never used to sigh, probably since she discovered reading she had noticed just how poor her life had really been, and how poor it was becoming, true she was no longer locked up in a room and tortured but, still, it was hardly sunshine and rainbows.

Grudgingly and knowing she would not be able to escape this conversation, Othala sat down on the other armchair and looked at the Doctor, he was creeping her out slightly with the way that he was looking so dead set at her, she hoped he would stop it soon.

"You are the problem." she stated simply "And you know you're the problem."

Looking around the room of mirrors Othala wondered how she could put her argument, how to start off what she needed to say, she couldn't just blurt it out all at once, it needed to be a sort of gentle build up.

"You've changed, and I don't like it one bit." Othala began, clasping her hands together.

The Doctor had to admit that despite their differences and despite the difficulties their relationship was facing, part of the problem was not only Othala's expanding knowledge base but also something dreadful. Hormones. It was why she had chosen to stew in the problem for this long instead of talking it out immediately after all.

Seeing that she was sat down The Doctor smiled faintly before he frowned slightly. When she flat out said that he was the problem his frown deepened even more,

"I am the problem?" he asked her, "I accept I am part of the problem but I'm not the whole problem."

The Doctor fixed her with his unwavering gaze again. He didn't blink for the longest time before sighing a little bit,

"I have been putting a lot of myself into my currently project." he admitted, "And before that I was... distracted, to say the least."

Othala frowned lightly when he said that she was part of the problem too, she was part of the bloody problem as well was she? How was that so? She had done nothing wrong, except maybe giving up what little hope she had left in the relationship between her and the Doctor ever getting better.

"How am I part of the problem?" she asked with a cool edge to her voice "What have I done that is destructive to our relationship in any way shape or form Doctor?"

There was that creepy gaze again, it just made her feel more angry than she had been before, she wanted to be able to leave right now. But she took a deep breath, she needed to be mature here, she needed to be able to sort out this problem between her and the Doctor.

"That is absolutely correct Doctor, I don't even feel like you're there half the time I'm talking to you, we still make time to be around each other but...I don't feel you really want to be around me any more, that you find your project is something you'd rather do."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow when she immediately assumed that she was part of the problem as well. He almost groaned in annoyance. Typical teenager already it seemed. With only a hint at what he meant she had immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was attacking her. Even if she was right,

"I didn't say you were but you are." he told her with a small frown, "Because I, as you've noticed, have changed. You are part of the problem because you watched me change and didn't try to stop it when you realised you didn't like the change. You could have spoken to me about it."

When she said that she got the feeling that he didn't want to be around her anymore his face softened and he shook his head with a soft smile,

"I enjoy spending time with you Othala, I really do." he told her before looking down at his feet, "But you're right. My full attention hasn't been on you during those times I set aside for you... and perhaps those times are not as frequent as they should be... and for that I am sorry."

Othala although she had been raised in a pure blood way and she would try her best to remember this, she was having difficulty not punching the Doctor across the face for what he was saying to her, was he really placing this argument to her? It was quite frankly pathetic. Wrinkling her nose up, she countered;

"Well then I was right in my assumption wasn't I? So what is the problem?" she asked calmly "In response to your point, I would just like to say, I am 14. How and why would I take on an adults problem, I believed you would change back when whatever this project is was finished, it doesn't seem to be finishing, so this is me telling you I don't like you any more Doctor."

The problem was she just didn't believe the Doctor any more, she wanted someone to be there for her and the only people who had were Raven, and the Master a guy she'd met for 15 minutes in a Goddamn park. Keeping her expression neutral Othala continued;

"I don't believe you any more Doctor, I don't know who you are. I don't even know what I am to you any more, you've never had the presence of mind to tell me so like so many other things I've had to figure that out on my own."

The Doctor could see that this argument was going south and it was going south quickly. He sighed a little bit and closed his eyes, trying to resist the urge to groan in annoyance and just leave the conversation. She neither understood nor expressed any interest of evidence in even wanting to understand,

"Yes you're 14. You can either be treated like an adult or like a child and it is up to you, and your actions, to decide which one is more appropriate." he told her firmly, "So you don't like me anymore. You must not have liked me much in the first place if your first and only comment on my change is you, seemingly, trying to cut off our relationship."

He looked at her as if she was an alien to him. She didn't know what she was to him? Was all that he had done for her, all the love he had given her, forgotten just because he'd been distracted? He closed his eyes,

"You were like a daughter to me." he told her quietly as he stood up and leant against one of the mirrors, "Does that mean nothing to you? All that I have done... all the love I gave you... still give you... is worth nothing to you now?"

Othala raised her eyebrow lightly, and she merely smiled icily at the Doctor she wasn't going to raise herself to his challenge, that truly would be childish to do something like that, instead she was going to focus on getting down to the matter at hand, rather than flinging insulting inappropriate comments around.

"Ignoring that rather blantant insult Doctor," she stated, smoothing her skirt down "I think you need a taste of your own advice, just because I said I dont particularily like who you are doesn't mean that I want to cut off our relationship, if that was the case I wouldn't be bothering with this and I would have just left."

Hearing that she was like a daughter to him, and that this was now in the past tense, Othala gritted her teeth and she lost her composure for a small moment of time, banging her fist down on the wooden arm of the chair she shouted;

"But you never TOLD me Doctor! You never told me you cared about me! You never said I was like your daughter to you, so you know, when someone asked me what my relationship was with you, I said I was your apprencitce because I didn't know you cared about me like that."

Gritting her teeth she calmed herself down; "How can you say something like that Doctor, you can't deprive me of attention of love and then tell me you think that the thing I've been missing and craving is worth nothing to me."