Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 70th cycle. Now cycle 71!
"Number Eleven in the TARDIS"
11th Doctor (+ New Directions)
Glee/Doctor Who crossover series extra
Tag to "You'll Find Wonder"
June 2012 – Lima, Ohio
Even as he'd left the auditorium, he knew his feelings of relief and amusement would be forced out of him before long. The relief had been in learning that Quinn Fabray, after he'd been forced to send her back to a point in time he knew immediately proceeded her car being rammed into by a truck, was alive and well and now a high school graduate ready to take on the rest of her life. The amusement, for its part, was something else entirely.
He had already all but known he would spot the boy from the Gap, the one he'd met with Donna so long ago… so very long ago. He had been right, too, only it hadn't ended there.
On that stage, he had seen not only two but six boys and girls he had met before. Two of those he had met as he was now, two of them in his previous regeneration, and one in the regeneration before that, and the last one was…. complicated. He wondered, if he'd looked in the audience, how many more there might have been.
There had been nothing really to connect them before, save for Quinn and the Gap boy. He had met one in Arizona, one in Chicago, one in Dayton, and the last… he'd never known where she was from to begin with. At no time had Lima, Ohio, or William McKinley High School been brought up. They could all have been perfect strangers. But they weren't. They were graduates of the class of 2012.
He'd only come to this moment in time to put his hearts at peace and know that Quinn would be alright. He hadn't had a choice to send her back, though he had surely tried to keep her from it. He'd still done it. He'd sent her back, as far as he had lived it, less than ten minutes ago. So why had he chosen this time of all times, to come and look in on her? Why three months later? There he'd gone and taken a risk by coming back, and it was here and now that he'd arrived, only to discover an array of familiar faces parading across a stage in bright red caps and gowns. If that was a coincidence, he was a Dalek.
He was already in the building, and everyone was packed into that auditorium, what was the harm if he should look around for a few minutes more?
So the Doctor walked casually down the halls of McKinley High, looking at the signs on the walls, the lockers, the classroom doors…
This one was open and, seeing musical instruments inside, he was drawn to take a closer look.
He knew he'd been right to choose this one, he could feel it, feel… them… What was it, what was he feeling? Piano, chairs, a trophy case… He followed the door into the smaller office connected to the curious room, and after browsing through papers and folders, his hand landed on a framed photograph.
He turned on the small desk lamp, and in the light he discovered… old friends.
There were fourteen of them on the photograph, and he had met ten.
Here was the other he'd met in Arizona, and the other from Chicago, that one he'd met in California, and the other in Cardiff, with Rose… He didn't know the other four, but he had a sneaking suspicion that would change, at one time or another. He also knew now, without a doubt, that he had come here for a reason. He just didn't know w…
"No, hold on…" he pulled the lamp closer, first squinting, then pulling away from the image as he stared at one girl. It couldn't be. "No… No…" He didn't even dare speak her name, but he thought it. Padra. That was her, older now, but without a doubt… her.
Undoing the back of the frame, he pulled out the photo and looked at the back. As he'd hoped, there were the names, fourteen names, and it wasn't ten he knew, it was eleven… Sugar Motta. That was the name they had given her, to Padra. The last time he'd seen her, two regenerations ago, was in Phoenix, and she'd been all of six years old.
Eleven boys and girls, nine encounters… One school, one club… and something else, something… There was another thing that connected them, most of them, and he couldn't see it… He knew he was supposed to, that it was staring him in the face, but he couldn't…
He had to get out of this office. He put the picture back in the frame, put the frame back where he'd found it. He looked at the desk and confirmed that everything was where it was supposed to be, and then he slipped back out of the office, into the class and out into the hall again. He could still hear the ceremony off in the auditorium, he could have taken more time, but whatever it was he was looking for, he knew he wasn't going to find it there. It was in his head, and if he could just pull it out…
When he felt something, it wasn't in his head but in his pocket. It was the psychic paper. He pulled it out, and when he pulled the flap back, four words appeared.
Come out, come out…
He stood straight back up so fast that he almost toppled into the swivel chair next to him. Then, one more word: TARDIS.
The Doctor didn't walk casually this time. He ran, as fast as his legs could take him, down the hall, out the school doors and to the corner where he'd stashed his ship. There was no one around, no one at all, and maybe that was what his psychic paper messenger wanted.
"I'm here now!" he called, perhaps not his wisest move, he realized, but he wasn't in the mood for games. "Hello?" he tried again.
"Hello," a voice replied, a woman's voice, and when he turned, he froze. "Hello, Doctor," the woman smiled. He knew he'd forgotten something.
"You." She nodded.
"I forget you don't know my name right now," she chuckled before offering her hand. "Gemma Lucas, nice to meet you… again."
THE END
A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!