AN: Here's the sequel! I'm sorry it took so long, life, headaches, and other stories got in the way.
Also, my writing style has changed. I seem to be writing in present tense instead of past tense. I hope this doesn't bother you too much
By the time The Doctor reaches the TARDIS, Lockie is practically asleep in his arms. He has tried to keep the younger man awake, but that has proven to get harder and harder as they got closer and closer. By the time they enter the TARDIS, Lockie's arms are slack, his head is now resting on The Doctor's shoulder, and his entire body is limp. The Doctor shifts his hold on Lockie, lifting him up higher and tightening his grasp. He grunts.
"You're heavier than I remember." The Doctor said, "Sherlock must have put on weight for you." The Doctor smiles fondly at the upcoming memory of one of their many playful kitchen arguments.
The Doctor walks forward, half carrying, half dragging the man beside him. He stops by the console, gently lowering his friend onto the seat, adjusting him slightly so he doesn't fall off. Looking back towards the console, he wonders briefly if he should get the TARDIS moving, it wouldn't do to keep it in London where it might attract stray people. He's had stray companions before, he's not too sure if he wants another. He turns back to Lockie.
"If this doesn't wake you up, you're sleeping there for the night." The Doctor said as he turns to fiddle with the console. Once the TARDIS Rotor starts moving he turns towards Lockie, smirking at the sight.
Lockie who was sleeping peacefully with his legs stretched out before him, his chin resting against his chest and his arms across his stomach, has now bolted upright in his seat, his eyes wide, his breathing coming quickly, and his shoulders tense. The Doctor, finding the sight highly amusing, then starts laughing. Lockie scowls at him when he realises what's actually happening.
"I'll get you for that." He says, his voice low and threatening but with a light tease to it.
"Like you did with the toaster?"
"Worse than the toaster incident."
The Doctor gives a slight moan as protest, "I'm not going to carry you to bed, Lockie. I needed to wake you up." The Doctor replies trying to defend himself.
"You couldn't have poked me?"
The Doctor looks to the side and agrees, "Yeah, I could have done. But this was more fun." He quickly adds.
Lockie glares at him; the glare is then ruined as he raises his hand to yawn.
The Doctor frowned and his eyes narrow. "Go on, Lockie," He says softly, "Sherlock pushed himself beyond his limit and the change was exhausting for you. Go to bed."
Lockie nods and raises a hand to rub at his eyes, he stands up slowly. "She hasn't moved it, has she?" He asks glancing at the console uncertainly with one eye as his hand rubs at the other.
The Doctor shakes his head, "No, it's still in the same place. Now go." The Doctor finishes sternly.
"I am. I am." Lockie says through a yawn as he turns to walk away.
The Doctor watches with a satisfied smile as Lockie leaves the console room; hopefully Lockie will make it to his bedroom and not fall asleep on the floor. He's done that before, that is certain. They both have actually. One time they fell asleep together on the floor. That was a very… compromising position, not to mention they had companions with mobile phones at the time. Those pictures haunted them for weeks. Lockie should make it. Hopefully. He isn't going to carry him to it. But he will put a pillow under his head and cover him with a blanket.
The Doctor turns when he hears the door of the kitchen open and frowns slightly at the sight. "Did you sleep in your clothes last night?" He asks when his friend walks in.
"I was tired." Lockie replies to defend himself.
The Doctor smirks at the sight. Lockie's, well Sherlock's, clothes are rumpled and a mess, part of it is tucked into his trousers, his collar is half up and the other half is down, several buttons have come undone and the sleeve of an arm has ridden up. When he looks down he sees that Lockie has lost a sock somewhere along the way. Lockie's hand is now trying to flatten his wild curls, while the other is opening the cupboards searching for something. The Doctor picks up his cup from the table and drinks from it, swallowing several mouthfuls of tea before putting it back down.
"What are you looking for?" He asks noticing that Lockie's looking through a lot of cupboards.
"Coffee." Lockie says, kneeling down to open a different cupboard.
"But you don't drink coffee." The Doctor replies his eyebrows knitting together.
Lockie pauses and looks up at him. "I don't?" Lockie says confused, "Must have been Sherlock."
The Doctor nods looking away from Lockie and down at his cup, hopefully it is only simple little things that have changed Lockie and not the major aspects of his personality. Liking coffee is fine, everyone's preferences change. He used to like those little M&M sweets a previous companion once brought onto the TARDIS, now he prefers those Milky Star sweets a little boy had given him a few weeks ago. Earth sweets, as sugary and teeth rotting as they are, they do taste quite nice. He wonders briefly what has happened to his previous packet; last thing he remembers is that he put them in the fridge before dashing off to visit Harlasterof. They must still be in the fridge.
A groan of frustration leaves Lockie's mouth and he gives up trying to flatten his curls down, instead he chooses to move the curls from his eyes and leave the room. The Doctor watches him leave, a sad look forming on his face. His friend has changed, and it is going to take some time to get used to it. The Doctor sighs. It'll be just like regenerating, he thinks to himself, it's the same man with a few changes made to his personality. Nothing else, nothing major. He's still the same man. He is still the same man; The Doctor repeats to himself, he shouldn't doubt for a second that Lockie is completely different. That he isn't the same person.
The Doctor finishes the drink in his cup and makes his way towards the console room, maybe he should let the TARDIS choose where they next go to, they need to go somewhere calm first, and most of the places he chooses are always in danger. Though, the TARDIS isn't much better herself at choosing places. He strokes the console fondly.
"Where shall we go now?" He whispers softly.
The TARDIS doesn't respond, he doesn't expect it to either, that was more a question to himself than anything else. He starts to think of where they should go. The Doctor contemplates this as he dashes around the console, thinking of all the places they've been to and all of they could go to. There are so many! The Doctor couldn't simply pick one! The TARDIS would take him where he needs to go, but it's not always guaranteed that the place is safe. It's not always fun when it's safe, it's rather dull at times. But it's not always fun when it's dangerous, it can get rather stressful and frightening at times.
What about Starnoff? That was a calm planet with a lot colours, could do with toning themselves down a bit as all the bright colours have been known to cause headaches. Well, headaches in those who are sensitive. Best not to go there then.
"What about Dimalongethon?" A voice asks.
The Doctor turns to find Lockie shifting uncomfortably on his feet – bare feet. He's standing by the double doors that lead into the hallway, his hair's wet, the top of his shirt is damp from his hair and he seems uncomfortable in the clothes he's wearing. He's wearing a dark blue t-shirt, but a red shirt over it that is currently unbuttoned as if he isn't too sure which one he wants to wear, he's wearing dark blue trousers to match the t-shirt, he's holding a suit jacket in his left hand, one black shoe and one red converse shoe in his right hand.
"You're not wearing anything on your feet." He says.
"Obviously." Lockie replies arrogantly. He tosses the shoes carelessly to the side.
"Why not?"
Lockie's gaze moves from The Doctor to his feet and then the suit jacket. "I wasn't too sure what to wear." He says quietly, "Some part of me wants to wear those shoes I was in last night, but the other is telling me to go back to those shoes I wear."
"Why not wear both?" The Doctor suggests, smiling widely.
Lockie looks up at him, an expression on his face indicating how ludicrous he believes the idea to be.
"Okay," The Doctor says awkwardly, "just wear the Converse shoes."
Lockie looks thoughtfully down at the shoes before quickly striding away.
The Doctor stares at the shoes for a moment, hating the feeling bubbling up in his chest, and turns around to play with console.
John wakes with a groan; he must have slept awkwardly last night if the pain in his neck is anything to go by. He sits up slowly, a hand rubbing at the back of his neck as he tries to wake himself up. Too much happened yesterday, he didn't get much sleep because of it, he just wants to continue sleeping. He looks down at the clock on his bedside table, the little red digits currently telling him that it is nine twenty-six. John sighs, no point going back to sleep, most of the morning has been wasted already and it's not like he can fall asleep at this time if he tried. Forcing himself out of bed, he walks downstairs to make himself a cup of tea. As he fills the kettle up, he briefly wonders why Sherlock isn't around, it isn't like Sherlock to still be asleep at this time, despite how tired he was last night he is usually around somewhere.
His shoulders sag and he drops his head slightly when he remembers. A feeling of sadness wells up inside him. He was too tired last night to realise, but now though, now he's awake and he can think properly.
He doesn't have a best friend. Not anymore. His best friend is gone, replaced by some different man that looks the same but acts differently. It's almost as if his best friend is dead. John shakes his head. He refuses to think about that, he can't go think about that, he can't go through that, not again.
He blinks hard, suddenly becoming aware that he's overfilled the kettle, quickly turning the tap off and pouring some water out, he turns around to places the kettle on its stand and turning it on. At that moment, Lestrade stands by the door.
"Sleep well?" He asks.
"Could have been better." John replies, yawning a little after.
"I agree with you there." Greg says with a wince, a hand going to rub at the bottom of his back.
John sees the movement and frowns, "You could have slept in Sherlock's bed."
Greg shakes his head, "Not after the countless experiments Sherlock does on it."
John chuckles softly, "Want some tea?" He asks, pulling his own mug from the cupboard.
"Just coffee, thanks."
There's an awkward moment of silence in the room as John prepares the drinks, he refuses to let his mind stray away to those thoughts, he can't go through that. Not again.
"I still have questions." Greg says as an attempt to break the silence. "They didn't really explain much."
"What questions?" John asks, truthfully, he still has questions himself.
"Well, they said who they are, they said what they are, and they said they go on adventures, but they didn't explain the important, less obvious questions." Greg explains.
John sighs softly, "There's just so much to ask, I don't even know where to start. When do you think they'll be back?" John asks as he pours the water into the mugs.
"I don't know. It doesn't appear that The Doctor is very good at timing, could be tomorrow, could be in two weeks."
John passes a mug to Greg who takes it with a nod of thanks. As he raises his mug to drink from, he pauses moments before. "What are we going to tell Mrs. Hudson? You know he's like a son to her."
Greg swallows his coffee before replying, "That he's on a case?"
"But he'll be gone for a long time." He points out.
"Yes, but this is something that Sher... I mean, Lockie, needs to explain himself. If he's got Sherlock's memories, then he should be aware of their relationship."
"If I knew this was going to happen, I never would have let that man get to Sherlock."
John drinks from his mug and walks out of the kitchen, his life feeling like a complete mess right now.
AN: Expect Chapter two to be uploaded on Saturday, I'm back to my weekend updates, especially now that I'm back at College which gets in my way.
I hope you enjoyed this. Have a nice day :)
~Steffii