Hello! This is my first fanfiction, so any good advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. I love criticism. Even if you don't think it needs improving, I would still love to know your opinion.
How often we forget all time, when lone
Admiring Nature's universal throne;
Her woods - her wilds - her mountains - the intense
Reply of hers to our intelligence!
-Byron, The Island
"Sherlock," John gasped as he finally caught up to his flatmate, "What is that noise?" The consulting detective had bolted at the sound of a strange "vworp" mere seconds before, and had left John standing bewildered in the middle of the London streets.
"An old friend," muttered Sherlock. "Well, I say friend…" His sentence trailed off as he turned his head in all directions, looking for something.
"Wait, I don't understan- Sher- Sherlock get back here!" Sherlock was once again running down the street, leaving John to once again run after him.
"Come on, John! We're losing him!" John still didn't understand, but he followed anyway. He had become used to strange events over the past few months of living with Sherlock, though to be honest this was slightly more odd than usual.
Sherlock finally stopped at what appeared to be an old-style blue police box, which admittedly did seem a little out of place in the middle of modern London. He walked around it numerous times, examining every inch with a smug grin scrawled across his face.
"Sherlock what on Earth is going on here?"
"No, no, no. Not Earth, John."
"The hell are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the Doctor!"
John stood there, staring at Sherlock. He had absolutely no idea what was going on. And, as normal of a affair his confusion might have been, he didn't like this.
"Sherlock who-"
John was cut off as the door to the police box opened. Out stepped a peculiar-looking man wearing a bow tie who had the look of a lost child on his face.
"London? I didn't mean to land in London," the man muttered. He snapped out of his daze as a grin formed across his face. "Ah well! Always time for a new adventure!"
The man hadn't even seemed to notice John or Sherlock, who were both standing on opposite sides of the blue box. Sherlock stepped up, smirking.
"Hello Doctor," he said coolly. The man jumped, eyes widening.
"Sherlock! What brings you here?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"Right, stupid question. Ignore that. Ignore me. The real question is this! How have you been my dear friend? Not been too bored, I hope?"
Sherlock laughed, which surprise John more than the mystery man and his police box put together. "No, Doctor. I've had plenty to keep me interested lately."
John looked at Sherlock sharply. That was an utter lie and he knew it. Lestrade had deliberately been giving then solved-in-four-hours-or-less cases since Moriarty and just last week Sherlock had dropped different cuts of meat from their flat as an "experiment" to keep him preoccupied. The only reason it wasn't human body parts falling from their window was that John had absolutely refused to let Sherlock do so when the idea was suggested.
"That so?" The Doctor asked skeptically. John was once again astonished. He had seen right through Sherlock's lie, which was unbelievably hard to do.
Sherlock smiled; he seemed to be doing a lot. "Alright," he said, almost playfully, "you've caught me."
"Not hard to do when someone gives you a look like that. Who's your friend, by the way? Not another one, is he?"
"Now Doctor, don't be rude," Sherlock snapped. "This is my friend, Dr. John Watson," Sherlock said, eyeing the Doctor.
"Another one?" John piped up, "What does he mean by another one?" He was genuinely confused, which had not been helped by the slight emphasis Sherlock had put on the word "friend". Normally John would have just reasoned that Sherlock was trying to impress the person to whom he was speaking and would just accept it; however, under no circumstance was this normal.
"Oh, never mind that," declared Sherlock, sill scrutinizing the Doctor.
The Doctor stayed locked on Sherlock's gaze for a little while longer and then slowly turned his head to John. "Right," was all he said.
"Anyways," continued the Doctor after a few seconds of tension, another grin forming on his face as he clapped and rubbed his hands together, "let's get this party started! Ehhrrr never saying that again.. John, I'm the Doctor. Very nice to meet you. I'm sure we'll get on just fine. Now, what's been happening on Earth lately? Even more importantly, what's today's date? I would hate so reveal anything to the great Sherlock Holmes and anyways-"
"Wait, wait, wait will somebody please explain to me what is going on," John half-shouted as he rubbed his temple. He hadn't been this confused since first meeting Sherlock and his patience had been growing thinner as the Doctor's rambling had grown longer.
"Really John, are you that dense? I've practically deleted all the information I've ever known about the solar system and yet I still deduced that the Doctor wasn't from Earth the first time I met him," commented Sherlock, sounding rather annoyed.
John gaped at the two men that stood in front of him. He then drew his attention to the blue box, studying it briefly, and then back to Sherlock and the Doctor. John thought for a moment, a conclusion slowly coming to his mind.
"You're not seriously telling me that this man, this 'Doctor', is an alien? A real, live alien?" John scoffed. "Sherlock, if this is another one of your experiments I'm going to be incredibly upset with you."
"Would I do that to you, John?" Sherlock asked.
"Yes."
"Fair enough. But this isn't fiction. Feel his chest."
"Feel his what? Sherlock, I swear if you're pulling my leg-"
"He's not pulling your leg, Johnny boy," smiled the Doctor. "I'm sure a medical man such as yourself will appreciate this.. Here," the Doctor said as he pulled out a stethoscope, from where only God knew, "listen to my heartbeat."
John carefully took the stethoscope from the Doctor's hands. Maneuvering himself into a proper position to listen to the man's heart, he placed cold metal to his chest.
"Bum-bum-bum-bum"
"Two hearts! You have two hearts," breathed John. This was amazing. The being who stood before him, in the flesh, was an honest to God alien. John felt light-headed. "I need to sit down."
"It is a lot to take in," mused Sherlock. Then appeared another smirk, "Wait until he sees the inside of the TARDIS for the first time, eh Doctor?"
"You are enjoying this far too much," the Doctor observed.
"I'm sorry, but the what?" John asked crossly.
"Oh, the TARDIS? Well that's my ship, if you will," the Doctor said as he casually motioned to the blue police box.
"That's your ship? A little small for a spaceship, don't you think?"
"Ah but that's the beauty of it," the Doctor smiled. "Come along, John. You're a strong man, you can handle this."
John stood up as the Doctor led him toward the TARDIS. Sherlock followed the two men as the Doctor walked to the box and opened the doors, urging John inside. Once John comprehended what he had just seen, his jaw dropped. He ran back to the outside of the TARDIS, walked around it a few times and surveyed the area for any sort of thing that could possibly help with forming an illusion of it being bigger on the inside. But not finding anything, he ran back in.
"It's.. It's bigger on.. on the inside," John stammered. He let out a pitiful half-laugh and buried his face into his hands. "One minute I'm debating on where to go out for lunch and the next I'm in a blue, 1960's police box that's bigger on the inside with a bloody space alien. That is exactly the sort of thing that could only happen when you're out with Sherlock bloody Holmes!" John was hysterical now, half-shouting and half-laughing.
"Er, Sherlock I think we've broken him," whispered the Doctor.
Sherlock's face skewed into something that resembled held-back worry. "John? John, are you alright?"
"Sherlock, who is this man? And why are you so happy about him being here? You're never this happy..." His sentence trailed off as his seriousness faded into disappointment. John's heart wrenched as he realized just how much truth his words held.
His friend's piercing blue eyes bore into him. "Listen to me, John. This man is the Doctor and you're just going to have to trust me when I say that he is the most important man you will ever meet." John locked eyes with Sherlock, contemplating if he could actually trust him. After all, Sherlock had kept the secret that aliens existed from John, so what else was there? He was sure Sherlock noticed the flash of doubt in his face and shook his head, clearing those thoughts from his mind. If there was ever one man in the world that he could and would trust, it was Sherlock Holmes.
"I trust you," John said, and he meant it. A soft smile appeared on Sherlock's face, which was something that appeared to be happening much more often than usual.
"Tell me this then, Doctor," continued John, snapping his head toward the alien. "If I'm going to believe that all this crazy nonsense is happening, I want to know exactly what it is I'm to believe. Earlier you asked about the date and said something about not wanting to reveal anything. What did you mean by that?"
The Doctor's already overly childish grin grew, but before he could answer he was interrupted by Sherlock.
"Come now, John. Surely you've figured that one out by now?"
John thought for a second. He had an answer, but it seemed so absolutely absurd that he was embarrassed to say it out loud. He finally sighed, realizing that nothing could be more absurd than what had already happened and answered. "Time travel?"
"Very good, Johnny boy!" Proclaimed the Doctor, the look of a child opening a Christmas present for the first time sprawled across his face.
"Wait, you're serious?" John was dumbfounded. He knew he really shouldn't be by now, what with all that had happened in the past half-hour, but he just couldn't take that in.
"Yep. Time and Relative Dimension in Space," the Doctor said, tapping some odd contraption on what appeared to be a control panel. "Would you like to see for yourself?" Anticipation grew in the man's too-old eyes.
John's eyes grew wide. All of time and space, right there, offered to him like the last biscuit on the platter. His immediate response would have been yes, if not for all that had been happening recently. He mulled it over, glancing between both the Doctor and Sherlock. He paused as his eyes reached Sherlock, asking for an answer. Sherlock met his gaze and answered with a look of reassurance. If John was to trust Sherlock, this was the perfect moment to do so. He looked back at the Doctor, knowing his answer.
"I'll go," he said finally.
"Wonderful!" The Doctor's eyes sparkled as he ran back to the TARDIS door. "Go on then, get packing! How much you bring depends entirely on how long you want to stay."