This was a story I wrote as a school assignment. The prompt was just to good to pass up. The prompt is the title. This is a one-shot. If I get requests I will write more but I just wanted to see peoples reactions to this.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. Just Taylor and Mary.
There Was Once A Chance That I Didn't Take
There once was a chance that I didn't take, and now I am kicking myself for it. My name is Taylor Johnson, I'm nineteen years old and my story starts two months ago when I was on vacation to England with a school friend of mine. The day had started out pretty normal, well as normal as it could with two nineteen year old girls sharing a suite in a cheap hotel in the center of London could.
"Taylor!" was shouted from across the hotel suite.
"What Mary?" I shout back as I pull my walking shoes out from under the couch.
"Where are my sunglasses?" I sigh as I turn to look for them.
So after the better part of an hour we were ready for our tour of Buckingham Palace. After we had argued with the man that was supposed to have had our reservations, it came to be that we would have to wait for the next tour, which was an hour later, because we had missed ours from arguing with the sales man. I hate online booking. The first thing that seemed off is while we were waiting in the main lobby for the next tour.
There was a man and women who were arguing. Not shouting or really mad at each other, but they were not agreeing on something. The man looked to be from a different time, he was wearing a coat that would have looked better in the 1800s, and a bowtie, who wears a bowtie everyday? The woman was dressed more appropriately in black slacks and a red top with a black jacket over her arm. I managed to catch a bits of what they were saying.
"….this Doctor? I mean here?" the women asked agitated.
"I am positive Clara…" the man said before someone next to me started to talk and I couldn't hear anymore. They were gone when I looked for them a minute later.
The tour started and I noticed that they were in Mary and I's group. When we got to the third floor, and I was board stupid, is when everything hit the fan as the saying goes. The tour guide was going on about some painting or another when I hear a gun cocking. I see out of the corner of my eye a man dressed in jeans and a red London Olympics hoodie, his hand is stuffed in his pocket, I wondered how he got the gun through security. You are probably wondering how I know what a gun cocking sounds like. Well my father is a crime scene detective and works with guns all the time, he trained me to know what they sound like if something ever happened. I have never been so thankful for those hours we sat there with those guns. I can tell that this one is, obviously, a small hand gun, can't tell the gauge. After I heard the gun I had slowly put my hand onto Mary's shoulder and squeezed, hard, this was a signal we had come up with incase we realized something was wrong. I felt her stiffen, I hold her to the back of the group as the tour moves on. We don't say anything because she knows that if I don't start to explain it's not safe to talk.
As we walk at the back of the group I see the man and women from earlier, the man is holding a long cylinder with a green bulb on the end. He was looking around as if something was about to go wrong. I don't know why but my instincts told me to trust him. I catch his eye and I nod towards the man in red and I mouth 'gun' to him, his eyes widen and he nods. He turns to the women and pushes her towards me and Mary. Mary is confused but trusts me, the new women looks nervous, the man looked at me with a look that said 'keep her with you, don't let her do something stupid' I nod subtly back. I pull the women over by her sleeve and held it in an iron grip when she made to follow the man. I watch as the man made his way towards the gunman. He gets there and puts the cylindrical thing to the guys pocket and I hear a buzz, then everything is fuzzy. I remember someone shouting run, I remember grabbing the woman and Mary's hands and sprinting towards the stairs. Everything was chaos. By the time my head was back on clearly I was standing in a deserted ally with Mary next to me and the man and woman from before leaning against a blue police box.
"What happened? Who are you?" I demanded. The man smiles.
"I'm The Doctor, just The Doctor, and this is Clara," the man says and nods to the woman. She waves. "As to what happened, well you just helped stop an assassination. What are your names?"
"I'm Taylor, this is Mary," I say shocked. "What do you mean stopped an assassination?"
"I'm a traveler," the Doctor said slowly. "A time and space traveler, Clara is my companion. We travel time and space, going from planet to planet, having adventures, and occasionally" Clara cleared her throat. "fine, okay a lot of the time, save people. The assassination that we just stopped would have killed a man, who is the father of a man, who later lays the ground work for intergalactic relations."
"Your nuts," I yelp. He laughs.
"I get that a lot," He pushes open the door to the Police Box. "But step inside and see for your self."
Mary and I share a look before we walk over to the box. When we step inside we expect it to be a dark, dank, wooden box. Yeah, no. Its bigger on the inside, its huge! And it's a consul! Its his space ship.
"It's bigger on the inside," Mary says faintly. The Doctor smiles and nods.
"It's your ship," I say as I walk around the center platform and look at a screen with weird circles on it.
"Yes, it called a TARDIS. T. A. R. D. I. S. it stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space," he says proudly.
"Cool," Mary and I say together as we look around. It has such a dark interior. I continue, "Why us?"
The Doctor grins before answering, "You are someone I would like to travel with me. You are smart, have good instincts and know how to listen when the occasion calls for it. What I want to know is, will you two come with us?"
Mary and I look at each other and have a silent conversation. Together we said no. we had school to think about and I didn't think I could handle that kind of life and I knew Mary thought the same thing. He had nodded and said he had expected as much. He and Clara had walked us back into the ally. We had looked at each other before he came over to us and hugged us.
"You two are very brave young women," he had said. "Never let anyone tell you any different. I have a feeling our paths will cross again. When that time comes I want you to know, that no matter what, I take care of the people I care about. The two of you have made it onto this list. When we meet again I feel that it will be for something a lot worse, and a lot more dangerous. Be ready."
With that he had turned and walked into the box. Clara had looked at us and said;
"Life will be different now. Once you meet that man and know what his life is about, and you taste that life, you will want to be a part of it. Even if only for a little while. He is a lonely man, he is over 1,000 years old, he has lost a lot of people but his ability to love is still strong. The next time you see him, go with him. If only for a little while. It is worth it. Also, with this machine, you can travel with him for months or years and he can have you back the same hour you left."
`With those parting words she had gotten into the TARDIS, then a moment later this noise came, it was like grinding gears and whooshing winds, and the box disappeared. But I know I will see him again, and Clara was right, I will take the chance and go with him. Now I prepare for the day he returns, for when he does, it will mean trouble, but I won't back down. Mary and I have agreed, life's to short to waist.
Well there ya go. Read and Review please.