"Do you think this would work?" Jenny asked, holding up a piece and its connecting wires. She spoke loudly to be heard over the bustling noise of the bazaar. The Doctor glanced up inquiringly, then lowered his head again to avoid hitting it on the overhanging cloth awning. It had already flattened his dark hair.
"It might at that." he said, taking the piece in his long fingers. He studied the piece carefully, running his sonic screwdriver over it, then grunted and tossed the piece back to Jenny."Wrong crystal-structure."
"There's got to be something around here that would work as a replacement." Jenny muttered.
"Patience, patience." the Doctor said distractedly, poking through the tables of junk and spare parts in the half-light of the tent. "This is the thessylain bazaar; you can find anything around here. Sometimes even things you don't want to find. Now…ah! This'll do, I think!" he checked the piece over, then grinned. "Eureka, as a very skinny naked old man once said. We'll be buying this." he said to the shopkeeper. It nodded, its long tongue flicking out lazily.
"She'll love this." the Doctor said as they left the shop, holding the piece up to the light. "Should fit in to the slot with barley any tinkering. New repairs every year on the old girl. There's going to be more repair pieces than TARDIS one of these days!"
"How old is the TARDIS?" Jenny asked, side stepping a slug-like shopper. The Doctor shrugged carelessly. "Don't know. She was secondhand when I got her, and it would've been a little awkward to ask questions."
"Why?"
"Nicked her, that's why. When you nick something asking after its references is usually a bad idea."
"You nicked the TARDIS?" Jenny exclaimed, dark eyes wide in appalled delight. The Doctor nodded. "Yup. Well, sort of borrowed her, an' never got her back, an' she bonded to me after a while, so, with one thing and another...you know how it goes."
"You nicked her!" Jenny repeated, still amazed. "When? How?"
The Doctor shrugged, dark eyes flicking about nervously. "Oh, you know."
"No I don't. Come on." Jenny pressed.
"Well, it started out as a hobby really." the Doctor said, hands uncomfortably stuffed in the pockets of his suit jacket. "There was this old TARDIS, filed to be junked, and I just sort of…put her away somewhere where the junkers wouldn't need to look. And I tinkered a bit with her when I felt like it, got her fixed up, updated her a bit. Worked her up to scratch, though it was a trick and a half doing that around her defenses. Then there was a bit of a…tiff between me and a superior of mine, among other things. And I decided it was about time I took her for a test drive."
"A tiff?"
"Yep. Tiff, spat, something like that."
"What about?"
"Um…" the Doctor looked past a few brown Golians nervously. "Well… you know those documentary nature films they make?" he said over his shoulder, "The ones where they keep filming even if the baby whatever-sort-of-animal dies?"
"Yeah." Jenny said loudly as they pushed through the crowd.
"Well, that's what I was supposed to do at one time. With sentient species at specific times. Document. And then I sort of…well, I didn't exactly keep filming. And it got me quite a telling off, I can tell you. They decided I would get a desk job for a few centuries. And I said…well, I sort of said no. Got in my TARDIS, and decided I'd do a little sightseeing of my own, just me and my granddaughter for a bit. Thought it would be a bit of a treat, though we put quite a few noses out of joint when we left. Bit of a mess, really. Didn't go nearly as easy as I thought it would at the time either. She hated me at first. The TARDIS, I mean. Oh blimey, did she complain when I drove her that first time!"
"The TARDIS hated you? Why?"
"Oh, because I was a new driver who hadn't been properly introduced and bonded to her. She still thought she belonged to her past owner who cast her off. She missed him, and mostly railed at me and called me names. Said I was a thief. Some gratitude. I had to do some manual overrides just to keep her in the Vortex the first day. And she can be a vindictive old bin when she feels like it. I'd say it took two years before she tolerated me and let me bond with her, and ten years before she got fond of me. And there she is. Come on."
The TARDIS had been parked down a small causeway, and welcomed them as the Doctor opened the door. Jenny could feel the ship subtly running scans on her.
"I'm fine. I didn't get into any trouble." Jenny called into the console room as she entered. "Quit checking."
"You know you rather brought it on yourself." the Doctor said, bounding up the ramp, "You come into the ship bleeding buckets and she's bound to fuss for a while."
"It was just a cut."
"If a cut slices a major vein, Jenny, it's not just a cut."
Jenny shrugged. The damage had only taken two days to heal.
"So how did you get so close when she started out hating you?" she asked, dropping into the console chair.
"How what?" the Doctor said, working over the controls in a preoccupied way.
"How'd you get to know her?"
Looking up from the dial he'd been adjusting, he looked at his daughter with surprise.
"How'd I get to know her? Time, I guess. Just time. And a little open-mindedness, I suppose. I got to know her little ways, and she got used to me. We learned to trust each other, after a bit. She learned to trust my driving, and I learned how to listen to her and her hunches. And besides," he said, grinning, "I'm probably the only Time Lord who'd let his ship choose the destinations on a regular basis. Who else would let her have the freedom to play Pinball around the universe?"
"Who else would enjoy it so much?" Jenny teased. "You're probably the only one for galaxies who likes not knowing where they're going."
"Oh, I always know where I'm going." the Doctor said mischievously, the console light glinting in his dark eyes. " Somewhere brilliant. Every time."
"Oh yeah." Jenny agreed, nodding.
There was a ripple of warmth and love through their minds, and the time rotor glowed brightly.