Jamie peeks over the Doctor's shoulder, as if trying to make out what the instruments on the console said. To be honest, though, he was just a bit shaken after they had just nearly been buried alive by magma (again, but this time without Zoe), and needed a bit of...consolement. Knowing that the Doctor would probably figure out his plan in a minute - he always did - Jamie cleared his throat.
"Erm...so where are we, Doctor? When are we?" he asks. The scanner looked out onto a large peninsula of land, with ships full of cargo and passengers sailing around it. Thousands of houses were just visible, smoke billowing out of their chimneys. Jamie guessed they were close to his time, by the look of things, but he wanted to make sure with the Doctor, so as to not embarrass himself.
"New York, 1780." the Doctor responded, flicking a few levers on the console. The scanner switched off, and the Time Lord rushed over to grab his black dress coat from the back of the mahogany chair sitting a few feet away. Pulling it over himself, Jamie watched as it fell to cover his arms and almost his hands. The Doctor tutted quietly, unamused by the clothing. "I will have to take this in at some point. Near impossible to work when the sleeves are getting in the way."
"I wouldn't call what you do work, Doctor." Jamie chuckled as his friend tried to push the sleeves up, with little success. "And it's always looked like that. Are ye sure ye haven't just shrunk?" The Doctor glared at him, and Jamie realized all too late that he could be rather temperamental about his height at some points. Thankfully - or, not so thankfully, depending on how you look at it - the Doctor forgot about this immedient offence and looked at Jamie's clothing.
"We're going to have to get you something else to wear, Jamie." he said. Jamie made a small noise of protest, backing away from the Doctor and almost into the coat rack.
"Hey, ye never told me we were going on one of those...those undercover missions!" he exclaimed. The Doctor, didn't look directly at him, but seemed to be imagining Jamie in a different outfit.
"Oh, we're not, Jamie. I just thought that I'd take you somewhere nice for a change." he said distractedly.
"New York's hardly nice, Doctor." Jamie grumbled. "If ye wanted tae take me somewhere nice, Scotland would be a better choice."
"Oh, it's not New York." the Doctor took Jamie by the arm, and started to pull him into the maze of halls inside the TARDIS. Jamie tried to resist, but his friend was pulling him with such force that he had to go along with it. "It's a dance in New York."
"Ach." Jamie groaned. He knew how the British high cast danced, and assumed that Americans wouldn't be much better. Not to mention they were about half a decade into his future. Jamie finally managed to entangle himself from the Doctor, but not before they had arrived in the wardrobe room. The Doctor didn't appear to have heard this, and ran off to a rack of clothes hung up in a corner.
"Oh, don't count your chickens before they hatch, Jamie. You might have fun!" he said, rummaging through multiple, rather posh clothing, before stopping at a long blue coat with brass buttons. He then picked up a clean, white shirt, and khaki pants and handed them to Jamie. "Here. You very well can't to to a dance wearing a kilt, can you? You'll get kicked out on the spot, and we're not getting in trouble with the authorities today."
Jamie tried to say no, but the Doctor looked so enthusiastic about this that…
…
"I can't believe I said yes to this."
"How can you say no to it?" the Doctor and Jamie were standing on the sidewalk in front of the alleyway where the TARDIS was parked, and had already gotten a few odd looks from passerby.
"Doctor, you didn't even change!" Jamie exclaimed. The Doctor was, indeed, wearing his normal adventuring outfit - the only difference was that he had shined his shoes and now wore a stovepipe hat covering his messy raven black hair. The Time Lord's light blue eyes met Jamie's hazel for a second, before the former huffed and walked briskly up the sidewalk. Feeling a bit guilty, Jamie quickened his pace to keep up. He didn't mean to be so harsh on his friend. He just felt a bit out of place, not wearing his kilt. Trousers were foreign to him. Just as Jamie marched up to stand beside the Doctor, the latter stuck a mittened hand out in front of him to keep him from going any farther.
"We're here." Jamie and the Doctor stood in the sidewalk, and looked up at the very large mansion that stood in front of them. A stone path covered in thick snow led up to double doors made of oak wood, shining in the dim sunlight. Two stone birdbaths stood in front of large windows, the water in them shimmering. Through the windows, candlelight was just visible, flickering upon the water, and many bodies were seen moving inside, the majority of them dancing. But just visible in one of the windows was an armed guard, watching over the partygoers.
"Doctor, there's a guard. Right there." Jamie motioned to the figure with the sword in the window.
"Well. I guess it was a good idea I brought this." the Doctor removed his hat, holding tight to make sure it didn't blow away, and pulled out a small piece of paper in a plastic film. "It's psychic paper, Jamie. Shows people exactly what I want them to see."
"Ah, so like a sort of magic, then?" Jamie said. The Doctor smirked at Jamie, a twinkle in his eye.
"Yes. Yes, I guess you could call it that. Come on, snake." he took Jamie by the hand. "Let's rattle." After Jamie only blinked at him in incomprehension a couple of times, the Doctor turned beet red. "Sorry. Wrong decade."
"Wrong century." Jamie laughed. The Doctor smacked him on the arm, before they walked up the snow covered path to the door. A brass knocker hung on it, and after only hesitating a second (haha, puns) reached up and slammed the object hard on the door. Not a minute later, the door to the mansion opened, and the guard that was standing by it poked his head out. A light ginger beard framed his face, making him look much older than he must've been, which Jamie guessed was about twenty seven. Cold, green eyes stared upon them, observing the new revelers.
"Who're you, then?" the guard barked, drawing his sword and putting it to the Doctor's neck. Jamie had to resist the urge to reach into his sock and pull out his dirk in defense. The Doctor seemed to sense this, glancing at Jamie as to say, 'Don't worry. I've got this.'. He then fixed the guard with the same cold stare he was giving them.
"Don't you know who I am?" he queried in a perfect American accent. His voice was dark, as if any moment the Doctor could turn the guard's sword against him and put it on his neck.
"If I knew, would I be doing this? You were not on the guest list."
"I'm sure we were on there. Doctor John Smith and his assistant James McCrimmon. If you don't believe me, I have the guest list right in my pocket."
"Fine, then. Show me." So the Doctor, without removing his eyes from their adversary, reached under his hat and brought out the psychic paper.
"There. John Smith and James McCrimmon."
The guard squinted at the paper, before becoming satisfied with what he saw, and removing the sword from the Doctor's neck.
"My apologies. I had to make sure you were not a British spy. The revolution against King George is going on full swing now."
"Yes, yes, I fully understand that. Come on, James." the Doctor walked into the house, and it took a few seconds (MORE PUNS), but Jamie eventually followed him.
The inside of the mansion was beautiful. The entrance hall was white marble, with stairs on either side leading up to the second floor. Three arches led into a room underneath the balcony of the second floor, which was surrounded by windows, and candelabras. An orchestra played in this space, the sound of violin and cello filling the air. Everyone was dressed fancily - this was a dance, after all. The men wore clothes similar to Jamie's, while the women wore heavy dresses which looked rather uncomfortable to be in, and very large hats. Servants skirted around the room, carrying platters of food and drink, and Jamie wondered how on Earth they could manage it- if the room held any more people he was sure it would explode.
"Well." the Doctor remarked, taking the stovepipe hat off his head. "That was easier than I expected."
"There was nothing on the paper. Is..is that how it's supposed to work?" Jamie asked. They maneuvered through the crowd and found a place for the Doctor to put his coat.
"Quite right, Jamie." he chuckled, taking off his snow-covered coat and handing it to a servant beside him. The small girl was looking at the Doctor incredulously, but the Time Lord didn't seem to notice this. The Doctor did look immensely out of place in the mood of the party, with his overlarge blue shirt, crooked bow tie, suspenders, and checked pants. Jamie didn't understand why, if the Doctor made him change, why he hadn't changed clothes himself. Part of him thought it was to just make him wear something other that his kilt, but he needed proof in order to accuse the Doctor of something like that. Jamie began to remove his coat and hand it to the dark skinned servant at his side, but the Doctor stopped him. "Now, now, Jamie. That's part of your outfit."
"It's hot in here!" Jamie exclaimed, a bit annoyed. "And it's covered in snow!"
"Very well." the Doctor sighed. "You did look very handsome in it, though."
Suddenly, a hush fell throughout the room. Everyone had stopped, the servants had stilled in their orders, the gossiping ladies began to point towards the second floor balcony. Jamie turned toward the Doctor, puzzled.
"What's…?"
"Hush, Jamie." the Doctor hit him lightly on the arm. "I think we may have some...important new arrivals."
Just as the Doctor said this, a dark skinned, well dressed man with no hair to be spoken of, stepped up to the balcony. He the exact same outfit as Jamie, only in a darker shade of blue, with brass buttons, a white shirt, and black boots. When he spoke, his voice seemed to say that he was a very well educated man, and his black eyes had a sort of gleam to them.
"Ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to welcome you to the 1780's Winter Ball." These words were met with an onslaught of applause from all present, but no one clapped harder than a man of about twenty to the left of the speaker. He had long, black hair pulled up into a ponytail, chocolate brown eyes that darted back and forth between the revellers. He, also wore the same outfit as Jamie -or Jamie wore the same outfit as him, however you wanted to put it. The TARDIS was a time machine after all. But this man seemed to have eyes only for the back of the room, Jamie tried to crane his neck to look over the crowd, but he didn't see anyone vaguely interesting among the throng of people. Of course, that might be because he wasn't from around here anyway. A local would definitely know the more interesting people in New York. "You all know me, obviously. As well as my...colleague, Alexander here."
"Mr. Burr, once you're done with your little spiel, can we get back to the dancing?" the man named Alexander said, smirking at Burr. A voice spoke up from the back of the crowd, in a definie French accent, "Yes, as if you're the one to tell him that. People have to buy your silence, for the Lord's sake!"
"If you could be quiet, Lafayette, I will. Now," he took a glass of champagne from the servant's tray by his elbow. Raising it, he motioned for all else in the room to do the same. The Doctor managed to stop another servant on his way back to the kitchen and got two glasses for him and Jamie. Alexander waited until everyone who was toasting had a glass, then raised it high above his head. "Let us raise a glass to the freedom of America from the British patriarchy. Let God steady our hands, and guide our hearts, into a new age of prosperity and life. For the colonies!" The room echoed Alexander's words as all drank the champagne. The Doctor took a small sip, smiling at Jamie through it. Jamie swished the drink around in his flute for a minute, before downing it whole...and then having to put his hand to his mouth to stifle a belch. Noticing his friend doing this, the Doctor had to quickly cover his own mouth to keep champagne spewing out in laughter. Jamie rolled his eyes and the Time Lords antics.
"Ye can be so immature at times, you know tha'?" Jamie made a face at the Doctor. The Doctor only did the same back.
"Says the boy who just downed a whole glass of champagne in one gulp, and then proceeded to belch. At a fancy party. With Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and multiple other big faces in United States history." he retorted.
"So what?" Jamie asked. The Doctor began to push his way toward the stairs, and Jamie knew, intuitively, that he wanted to speak with the very people he had mentioned only a few seconds earlier. "Doctor! We're not doing a meet-and-greet! Doctor!"
But by the time Jamie had gotten caught up with the Doctor, his friend was already in the queue of people waiting to see Alexander. Knowing that he had evidently been defeated, he decided that there was no other choice than to join the Doctor in being an avid fan.
"We might only have one chance to do this, Jamie." the Doctor whispered in his ear. Even though Jamie was looking forward at the young, energetic man, he could still hear the excitement in the Doctor's voice. He never could resist interacting with figures in history...even though he had to remind Jamie constantly to not interfere with the laws of time. Jamie very well couldn't say no to the Doctor being an 'energetic, small cinnamon bun', as Zoe would refer to him as. So went along with it.
"Who is he anyway?" Jamie asked. He knew nothing about the Americans in the room, but was curious all the same.
"Alexander Hamilton, first secretary of state of the United States of America. Which...was very close to being founded in your time, was it not?"
"Not really. And we were too busy fighting our own rebellion to pay attention to others' anyway." Jamie said.
"Fair enough." the Doctor, noticing that they were now growing close to their target, began to wring his hands in anticipation. "I really don't know what I'm going to say. Hopefully nothing stupid." Jamie said nothing, but reached over and gripped the Doctor's hands tightly, casing him to cease the habit he had driven himself into. This only lasted for a second before the Doctor pulled away, a small look of warning in his eyes. Jamie was about to ask what that was for, when the line moved up in front of them, and only two women stood between them and Alexander.
The women, Jamie noticed, were of a very high class. They were clad in long dresses with big corsets. One was dark-skinned and wore a pink dress, with her long curly hair in a ponytail down her neck. The other was wearing a similar dress, only with a smaller corset, and in a blue hue. She was light skinned, with long black hair also pulled into a ponytail, and looked a tad bit Asian. The women looked like sisters, but Jamie couldn't be completely sure of this fact, since they looked so different in race.
"Elizabeth Schuyler." the woman in the light blue dress said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Alexander looked at the other woman in the pink dress, puzzled. "Schuyler?"
"My sister." the pink dressed woman confirmed. Jamie chuckled to himself. He had guessed right!
"Thank you for all of your service." Elizabeth said, smiling at Alexander. Alex, clearly flustered, began to blush, looking anywhere but at Elizabeth's eyes.
"If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it." he said quietly. Elizabeth's sister laughed quietly to herself, as if amused, but when she spoke, her voice had an air of sorrow in it. Did she like Alexander?
"I'll leave you to it." she said, and turned to walk away, but came face to face with the Doctor and Jamie. Clearing her throat, she announced their presence to Alexander. "Alexander. You have two more admirers." Alexander and Elizabeth, who had been talking quietly, both looked up at the mention of Alexander's name. Elizabeth whispered something in Alexander's ear, something that caused the latter to blush even redder, before heading off downstairs, in the direction of the dance floor. Alexander looked after her with a wistful stare, seemingly lost, but perked up again when the Doctor cleared his throat.
"Doctor John Smith, and my assistant James McCrimmon. How do you do, Mr. Hamilton?" the Doctor asked, smiling at Alexander. Alexander smiled back - he had a very wonderful smile, but it seemed a bit out of practice - and stuck his hand out to shake. The Doctor took it with both hands - as he normally did - never losing eye contact with the young man.
"Please, call me Alexander. And...doctor of what, might I ask?" Alexander's voice seemed to become calmer when talking to the Doctor, as if his earlier embarrassment with Elizabeth was forgotten. Jamie didn't know why, but this face made him feel uneasy. Thankfully, the Doctor seemed completely immune to this, or if he did know, he didn't let on.
"Oh, of many things. Right, James?" the Doctor turned to Jamie, a laughing twinkle in his eyes. Jamie nodded, deciding he would ask about the past offense later.
"Aye, John. Mainly getting into scrapes." he said the last part so quietly that only the Doctor could hear it. He could tell that he succeeded by the fact that the Doctor almost managed to hold back a laugh, only letting out a forced jet of air.
"Getting into scrapes, eh?" Alexander laughed, looking straight into the Doctor's eyes. It was annoying Jamie, why was it annoying Jamie? "Maybe you could use that talent to...I don't know. Help us out with the revolution? General Washington always needs new recruits."
"Oh, I...I don't think so. You see. I...most likely won't be here for long. We're travellers, James and I. Don't really have an… an allegiance to a certain country. Mostly." the Doctor looked sideways at Jamie. Jamie began to fiddle with the lace around his neck. "I really hope you don't take offense?"
"Oh, no. No, it's fine. You two just...enjoy the party. I have somewhere to be." he winked at the Doctor, then hurriedly walked past them, down the stairs, right where Elizabeth had disappeared to.
The Doctor and Jamie were alone now, the music from the first floor seeping upwards. Jamie could feel his face going red, weather it was from embarrassment or anger he did not know. A candelabra was dimly lighting up him and the Doctor's faces, and even through the dim light, Jamie could see the Doctor flushing.
"I think Alexander fancied me." he muttered quietly under the orchestra. Jamie laughed at his awkwardness, silently hiding the fact that jealousy was running through his veins. "He wouldn't stop looking at my eyes!"
"Well, they do draw attention." Jamie remarked. The Doctor's pale face immediately started to turn a light pink, doing his best to shrug off this statement.
"Anyway…" the Doctor began, but trailed off in a few seconds. A few second of silence fell between the two, but it was a comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's presence. It was rare that they got a break from the Time Lord's missions, so this dance, this was special. "Shall we dance?"
"Won't people stare?" Jamie asked. The Doctor only laughed quietly.
"I don't mean down there. This way!" the Time Lord took Jamie's hand, and dragging him along, they took off down the second floor hallway. As they were running, Jamie felt a sense of peace flow over him. For once, they weren't running away from danger, they were just plain running. And Jamie loved it. For once, there was no sense of fear or despair or death. It was calming. And it was wonderful.