a thought before bed

Iru was lying awake in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Being a Time Lord, sleep wasn't too important, and she didn't need much of it. She just felt that she might as well spend the quiet time meditating on her thoughts. It felt unfair, having Enry fast asleep for hours at a time, just in the next room. Human lives were so fleeting, and yet they spent so much of their lives in an unconscious state- practically cheated out of a third of their lives. And Enry was so…
Enry's life was too beautiful to be wasted. For a moment, Iru almost wished that the young girl were something other than human… a Time Lord, perhaps. But no, she thought, taking back that thought. Enry's humanity was part of what made her so incredible. For creatures that were so fleeting, they were so content… at least the ones she could bear to be around.  Humans could be so diverse, with all their differing languages and cultures, all their religions and ways of making their way through each passing day. It wasn't like Gallifrey, where everything had to remain the same, everything had to be stable.
Humans seemed to thrive on change. Good change, bad change, mediocre hopeless change- it was all part of their lifestyle. Change of government, change of acceptable behaviors, change of hair color- the last being something that Enry was becoming notorious for. Certainly, this made humans considerably unreliable for many reasons… but they were still beautiful. Always changing, always surviving, adapting and making their way through the universe. A stubborn but resilient race.
But humans were also good at dying. A third of their lives spent sleeping, dreaming… Enry was no exception. Iru knew it would be a long time, but eventually, one way or another, she would have to say goodbye to the enthusiastic girl. If only… If only…
Jack, Stephen, Thet… whatever the immortal was called, he wasn't human. He wouldn't grow old, he wouldn't become part of that flow of human beings, moving on through their own times, contributing and passing on a legacy. He had been ripped from that, and would remain so forever. As the Doctor had once said, death is a price paid for progress- and Jack couldn't die.
But Enry could. Enry was alive, and progressing through her time, a natural, beautiful human. And one day, she would sleep peacefully and not wake up again to the cruelty and pain the universe was so ready to offer, pain Iru was all too familiar with.

Jack and Enry both needed love, though. They both needed people, and attention, and adventure. They both required a someone, a heartbeat in harmony with their own. Some burning passion, or even just a quiet embrace. But that was the one piece of evidence for Jack's humanity. No matter how Iru tried to deny it, Time Lords did not feel in the same ways as humans did. Relationships were always risky, unsafe… unlikely to last.
Humans weren't afraid of change and instability. Maybe it was because they weren't afraid to waste their lives dreaming.

Oddly, Iru slept well that night.