Lena's alarm went off at precisely seven a.m. Far too early for anyone civilized to be waking up, in her opinion. She groaned and reached for her phone, using the light its screen gave off to guide her hand. It was all she could see at the moment. That tiny little light was surrounded by a sea of darkness. And its incessant buzzing was really beginning to annoy her. Lena silenced the irritating thing. She was highly tempted to throw it against the wall for waking her up so early, but she did actually have to be up right now. She settled for growling at the phone before slamming it back on the nightstand.
With a sigh, Lena dragged herself out of bed and felt her way along the wall until she found the light switch. She flicked it on, bathing the room in a dim glow. At least staying at her grandma's the night before meant that she didn't have to get up as early for this stupid doctor's appointment. Still half-asleep, she wandered over to her suitcase, mentally kicking herself for not picking out clothes the night before. That would have enabled her to get an extra five to ten minute's sleep. Lena fumbled around inside, grasping some sort of clothing item and pulling it out. She didn't particularly care what she wore today. She just wanted to get this eye exam over with. Lena pulled her hand out of the suitcase and gave a startled squeak as she realized that she'd pulled out a pair of her grandmother's underwear instead of one of her shirts. She hastily threw it to the side and snagged a shirt instead. Lena shuddered lightly. I guess that's what I get for doing my laundry at the same time as Grandma, she thought to herself. She managed to locate some pants and haphazardly got herself dressed.
Lena walked into the kitchen and was greeted by her grandmother. She returned the greeting, but didn't really pay attention to the rest what her grandma said, mainly because her grandmother tended to chatter: how she doesn't put sugar in her coffee, how her dad made his coffee to where it was mostly just hot water with a touch of coffee in it, how her dad used to raise his kids (he never spanked them), and the only time he put on his cross voice, "Don't you know how blessed you are to have sisters?" they just cried and cried. Lena made sure to nod politely every now and again as she ate breakfast, barely registering the food she was shoving into her mouth. Her grandmother continued talking. Lena interjected a noise of agreement wherever there was a pause.
Lena could not help but wonder what her doctor would say today about her continually deteriorating eyesight. That wasn't something that could be cured, unfortunately. She had retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that was damaging her retina. It mainly affected the rods, causing her peripheral vision and night vision to degenerate over a period of time. Much to her dismay, Lena was already experiencing tunnel vision and night blindness. Eventually, she wouldn't be able to see at all. Lena had inherited this disease from her father, who was completely blind. In her set of family genetics, retinitis pigmentosa usually only affected men, and women carried the gene. However, Lena apparently was "lucky" enough to carry it and deal with its effects, despite her gender. These effects were irreversible. In the end, all the doctor could really tell her was exactly how fast she was going blind and give her ways to cope with it.
That was precisely why she was not looking forward to this appointment. Lena knew she was going blind, and she hated it. Having a doctor tell her that she was going blind at such-and-such rate only served to cement that fact. It was like purposefully jabbing an already throbbing wound. But these appointments were important, as she needed to be sure that her degenerating retina was all that was wrong with her eyes.
The drive to the hospital was as boring as ever. Unfortunately, Lena was not able to nap on the way, having too much on her mind. Texting several friends and chatting with her grandma helped her think of more positive things, but she was still bored. On top of that, she ended up sitting in the waiting room for almost two hours. Thus, by the time she was finally called into the examination room, Lena was well beyond bored out of her mind, fed up, and ready to just go home.
Her frustration was rapidly replaced by nerves as she entered the examination room alone. Lena had purposely left her grandma in the waiting room. The doctor was not likely to give her good news, and Lena knew that she would need some time to process his words. That, and pull herself together enough to go back out to the waiting room.
The nurse came in shortly and began going through the usual routine examination. Lena's nerves grew with each passing minute, along with her dread. How bad was it now? How soon would she go blind? Lena wanted to know, but she didn't at the same time. Lena's heart leaped into her throat when she realized that her field of vision wasn't the same as the last time she came in. She was also having some trouble seeing what was on the chart. Whatever the nurse discovered during his examination could not be good. Lena felt tears forming at the thought. She fought against them viciously, but ultimately failed the battle. The nurse discreetly left the room.
She couldn't help but think that maybe she was going blind faster than she'd thought. But she wouldn't know for sure until she talked to her doctor. That didn't make her tears stop, though.
She was still crying when the door opened five minutes later. Lena took a deep breath and tried to gather her wits. She needed to be able to actually talk to her doctor.
"Are you okay?" a male voice with a distinctive British accent asked. Lena looked up suddenly. That was not the voice of her doctor, but she was not prepared for the sight of the strange man standing before her. Her first thought was, Who the heck are you?! This man was rather tall and had dark brown, rather floppy hair. It was almost hanging in his eyes, in fact. Instead of wearing scrubs or a suit and tie, this man was wearing a tweed jacket, slacks, and a nice collared shirt. This was certainly not something that Lena would have expected to see in a professional setting. So, naturally, she said the first thing that popped into her head.
"Are you British?"
"No. Uh, yes. Well, sort of," the stranger said, looking a bit flustered. Lena raised an eyebrow at that.
"And… you are?..." Lena asked, trailing off.
"Oh! Yes. Right. Hello! I'm the Doctor! And what's your name?" he asked in return.
"I'm Lena."
"Nice to meet you, Lena!" the Doctor said enthusiastically. He rushed over and pumped her hand up and down vigorously. He then promptly sat down in a rolling chair and slid back across the room towards her.
"So," he began, slapping his palms together. "What are you in here for today?"
"Eye evaluation."
"Huh," the Doctor said, making a face. "Well, that's easy." He jumped up and pulled a small, pen-like object out of his jacket's inner pocket. The Doctor proceeded to point this device at Lena's eyes. He pushed a button and the item whirred, the end of it simultaneously lighting up in a greenish color. Lena frowned in bewilderment. The Doctor flicked the object, and the end of it telescoped up. The Doctor closely studied the strange thing for a brief period of time, then turned back to her.
"Congratulations. You do have real eyeballs! All done! You can go home now," the Doctor said with a grin. The lump that had been in Lena's throat returned with a vengeance. She had momentarily forgotten the nurse's reaction to her exam in lieu of the strangeness of this man.
"But my eyes aren't working properly!" Lena exclaimed in exasperation, her voice cracking at the end. She blinked rapidly as her already failing vision blurred with tears again. The Doctor frowned.
"Not working properly? What do you mean?" he asked in innocent befuddlement. "I evaluated you, and you have real eyeballs, so you're done now, right?"
Unable to contain herself, Lena started crying. If only things were that simple.
The Doctor sat down again, rolled over next to her, and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Hey, hey. What's wrong?" he asked with genuine concern. Lena looked up into surprisingly deep hazel eyes. They searched hers thoroughly, as though this man could see right into her soul. Lena found herself wanting to trust this man, despite the fact that he was a complete stranger and certainly not a doctor. She just had a feeling that he would understand where she was coming from. It was just something in his eyes.
"I'm going blind," Lena confessed. "It's from retinitis pigmentosa. My dad had it, and now so do I." She paused, and at last breathed, "And there's no cure."
The Doctor didn't say anything, just pulled her into another hug. Lena found herself returning the hug, much to her surprise. When the Doctor pulled away, he was smiling.
"What?" Lena asked.
The Doctor jumped up again. "Contrary to popular belief, there is a cure for retinitis pigmentosa," he announced.
"There is?" Lena questioned doubtfully.
"Of course there is!" the Doctor replied. "It just hasn't been invented yet in your timeline. Therefore, you've never heard of it." He pulled out the pen-thing again and pointed it directly at Lena's eyes. This time when it whirred, Lena could feel the vibrations deep in her skull.
"Sonic therapy!" the Doctor said enthusiastically. "It's very simple actually. All you have to do is utilize the psychic interface on a sonic screwdriver, or any other sonic device, really, to stop the retina from degenerating and then transmit a dash of artron energy to regenerate what was lost."
Lena blinked, uncomprehending.
"Could you say that in English, please?" Lena asked.
"But I just did," the Doctor replied, looking confused. "Translator circuit must be faulty. I'll have to take a look at that later."
Lena raised an eyebrow. The Doctor shook his head.
"Well, the point is that your eyesight should be normal again by tomorrow at the latest."
"Seriously?" Lena asked, disbelieving.
"Seriously." The Doctor's expression made it clear that he was neither joking nor lying.
Lena couldn't help the grin that spread across her face at that. The Doctor grinned as well.
"Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed, making Lena jump a bit. "You wouldn't have happened to have seen any bowties lying around would you? I seem to have misplaced mine…"
"Uh… No…?" Lena replied, caught off-guard by the random question. A quick glance at the Doctor's shirt confirmed that he was indeed lacking a bowtie, or a tie of any kind, for that matter. "Why would you want to wear a bowtie anyway?"
"Because bowties are cool!" the Doctor stated emphatically, as though it was an obvious fact.
"Okay then," Lena said.
The Doctor started rummaging through the various drawers at the small desk in the exam room. His search proved fruitless.
"You want some help looking for it?" she asked.
"Well, yes, if you could. It would be helpful," the Doctor replied absently, spinning in a circle while making his sonic thing whirr.
"Okay then," Lena repeated, standing up. "Let's go find your bowtie."
The Doctor beamed, grabbed her hand, and dragged her out into the hall.
"So, who are you again?" Lena asked.
"I told you already," he replied. "I'm the Doctor."
"Yes, but Doctor who?"
"Just the Doctor," he said briskly.
"Okay, the Doctor."
"No. No. Just Doctor."
The Doctor paused, making his sonic device whirr and turning in a circle.
"What is that?" Lena asked.
"This?" the Doctor said nonchalantly, waving it in her direction. "It's a sonic screwdriver."
"And what are you doing with it?" Lena asked when the Doctor said nothing else.
"I'm scanning for any bowties in the area. Haven't found any yet," the Doctor replied, studying the handle of his sonic screwdriver. Looking up, he took off down another hallway, leaving Lena scrambling to keep up.
That was the routine for the next twenty minutes. The Doctor would scan with his sonic screwdriver, find nothing, and take off down another hallway. Lena tried to look around too, but that was difficult when trying to keep up with the Doctor. They raced through hallway after hallway, really only going through a small portion of the hospital, but it certainly felt like they were looking everywhere.
As Lena rounded yet another corner, she spotted something red sticking out from under a door. Frowning, she knelt to pull it out. Lena figured it was the Doctor's missing bowtie because it was unlike any bowtie that she had ever laid eyes on. For one thing, the material alone was different from any that she'd ever encountered before; it was softer than velvet and smoother than silk. It also held a gorgeous, red color. Or maybe it wasn't really red at all. The color seemed too vibrant. She could have described it as crimson, but it wasn't quite that either. It was most certainly not blood red. It was a deep, rich hue of red that was almost other-worldly in nature. As she turned it in the light, Lena noticed that the fabric was also iridescent. Tilting just so caused a rainbow to slide across the bowtie's surface. But this rainbow wasn't solid. It was more like someone had taken thousands of tiny, rainbow-colored stars and embedded them in the fabric of the bowtie.
"Oh! You found it!" the Doctor exclaimed behind Lena, startling her out of her inspection.
"Yeah," Lena replied, stroking the soft material. "You were right. This is one cool bowtie."
An awkward silence ensued. The Doctor fidgeted a bit.
"Well? Aren't you going to give it back?" he finally asked.
Lena gave the Doctor a pouting face, but it quickly morphed into a positively mischievous grin.
"Finder's keeper's!" she announced, jumping up and darting away.
"Oi! Come back here!" The Doctor called, chasing after her.
Lena had no intention of letting him catch her. She was so keeping this bowtie. It was extremely cool, and she was sure that the Doctor had others. He could spare this one, surely.
So Lena found herself racing though the hospital hallways again. Though this time she was trying to elude The Doctor and find a suitable hiding place. Spotting a supply closet open, she pulled open the door and slipped inside. When she turned around, Lena came face to face with a large blue box. In white letters, it read, "Police Public Call Box." Curious, Lena tried the door, and it opened at her touch.
She stepped into a huge room with a high ceiling and golden walls. This space was brightly lit, giving it a warm, homey feel. A low pulsating hum, almost like a heartbeat, permeated from the entire room. Right in front of her was a set of steel stairs leading up to a platform. She stepped forward and ascended the stairs, only to end up tripping once she reached the top. Lena picked herself up off the glass floor of the platform with a sigh. Of course, she would fall up the steps.
Spying a circular console in front of her, Lena walked a slow circle around it. Each panel was covered in switches, knobs, buttons, levers, and other strange objects, some of which were moving. The center of the console was a large glass pillar, lit from within by a soft, aqua green light. Lena looked up and around, spinning in a small circle, just taking in the beauty of the room.
The door opened, catching Lena's attention. The Doctor stepped into the room and immediately spotted her. He seemed quite surprised to see her there.
"What? How did you get in here?" he asked, looking terribly confused.
"I opened the door and came in," Lena answered easily, having quite forgotten that she was supposed to be hiding from him. "It's very pretty. Is it yours?"
"Oh. Yes," the Doctor said, looking a bit put out. He then regarded her expectantly.
"What?"
"What do you think?" the Doctor asked. "I mean, yes, you already said it was pretty, but what else?"
"What do you mean, 'What else'?" Lena said, confused.
"Well, it's bigger on the inside, of course!" the Doctor said with a flourish.
"It's bigger on the inside? Really? Gee. I hadn't noticed."
"Yes," the Doctor answered, befuddled. "Why didn't you notice it? It's normally the first thing people notice when they walk into my TARDIS."
"Well, I did notice it. I guess I just got distracted by how pretty the room was. I don't really have normal reactions to anything. At least, that's what all my friends tell me." Lena explained with a laugh. She paused. "What did you call it again?"
"The TARDIS. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space."
"Oh. Cool."
"Now, can I have my bowtie please?" the Doctor pleaded.
"But I like it. It's cool. Can't I keep it?"
"No!" the Doctor retorted. "That's my bowtie. Go get your own."
"But I want this one," Lena said. "Don't you have other bowties?"
"Well, yes," the Doctor said hesitantly. "But that one's my favorite. My wife gave it to me."
He looked quite sad at the prospect of losing his favorite bowtie. Then suddenly, his face lit up.
"Do you like hats?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"What kind of hats? I have lots of them, you see. If you give me back my bowtie, I'll give you a hat. How's that sound?" the Doctor said eagerly.
"I like fedoras," Lena replied. "Could I have a purple fedora?"
"Absolutely! Wait right there!" The Doctor said, darting up another staircase and disappearing deeper into the TARDIS. He reappeared moments later with a purple fedora. Its color was every bit as rich and beautiful as the bowtie's. The Doctor dashed up to her and plopped it on her head.
"There you go," He said. "Fedoras are cool too."
Lena nodded, and with one last sad look at the bowtie, handed it back to The Doctor. He had just finished putting it on when the phone on the console rang. He listened for a brief moment, then turned to her.
"I've got to go," He said briskly. "Big, not good, very bad problem that needs taking care of."
"Okay," Lena replied. She turned to leave, stopped, turned around, and launched herself at the Doctor. Once they had disentangled themselves from the awkward hug, Lena turned, satisfied, and walked away with a slight wave. "It was nice meeting you, Doctor!" she called from the door.
"You too! Bye!"
Lena stepped out of the TARDIS and watched as it vanished with a loud, wheezing sound. Shaking her head and laughing, she exited the supply closet and found her way back to the waiting room.
"How was the appointment?" her grandmother asked.
"It was great," Lena replied, still wearing the purple fedora. This went completely unnoticed by her grandmother due to her chattering.
The next day, The Doctor's words proved true, and her vision was completely restored. In fact, it was better than it had ever been before.