Sleep.
All her brain could think about was sleep, but her body refused to cooperate. It didn't help that the crowded tour bus kept bumping and screeching. How anybody actually slept was beyond her knowledge. The ride became smoother as they went on, either that or she was just used to the bumps and squeals, and her eyes were closing steadily as they passed one building and another. The lure of sleep had almost won...
Until the bus came to a hard halt.
Fantastic... She thought to herself as her eyes fluttered back open, the blue light on the tour bus blurry in her vision. She looked outside, expecting the rest area for the tour, but there was nothing around except an old storage business and a blue telephone box labeled Police.
Suddenly, a man with brown floppy hair and a bright bowtie bounced in, flicking a piece of paper at the driver and tour guide.
"Hello...toury people I'm the..." The new comer said.
"The second guide." The tour guide at the front announced, reading the paper. "Funny, I didn't think we needed another." He said, almost appalled that he wasn't trusted with the van load himself.
"Don't worry, I'm just back up for if you really need me, or if these toury people become a bother." He said, flashing a smile across the cabin, the only response being angry glares at the sudden disturbance of movement.
"Um, alright then, I don't know what seats are left..." The driver tried, but the odd man just nodded and waved a hand.
"Not a problem, I'll find a spot. Carry on." He took a mechanical device out of his jacket pocket, an item that looked like it should be in a science fiction movie or at a Steampunk convention. "Just a little routine inspection, not to worry. Just go on...touring." He started making his way through the cabin shining the thing at the people in each row, most of whom were still sleeping, or glaring at the new comer and his torch.
He flashed the green light at her, making her squint. After being in a bus for so long, a bright, intruding light was the last thing her tired eyes wanted. He moved on all the way toward the back. Curiousity took over and the girl couldn't help herself; turning in her seat, she watched him. What kind of 'routine inspection' required flashing a green torch in someone's face? She wondered.
About two rows to the end on the left, he stopped dead on a man in the back. He was glaring, which really didn't surprise her, everyone was, but the way he was looking at the new man was... Offsetting. In the darkness of the bus and the green light on his face, his eyes looked fully glazed over, and orange. The new comer flicked the device closed, staring at the man for a few seconds. Suddenly, he spun on his heels, heading back up the aisle. "Well! No seats there! I think I saw one..."
She looked down next to her, the only empty seat in the entire bus load was right next to her. Before she could register it, the man flopped into the seat next to her. "Here!" He looked around the cabin once more, then over at the girl sitting next to him. "Hello! I'm the Doctor!" He said, a large, friendly smile coming across his lips.
She flashed a sarcastic smile at him. "Hi, I'm tired." She mused.
"Aren't we all?" He mumbled almost to himself with a huff of a laugh. The way he said it and that sad look in his eye, she felt there was probably a deeper meaning to that, but at the moment all she cared about was getting to the rest stop and getting some caffeine into her system.
After a beat of silence, she cleared her throat. "I'm Hannah, by the way." She said, snapping him from his thoughts. "So Doctor...who exactly?"
"Oh, that's not interesting at all." He said simply, that winning smile returning to his face. "You know what is, Stonehenge!" He said, completely ignoring the topic.
Hannah rolled her eyes. "Oh please, do NOT go all tour guidy on me. And yes, I do know a lot about Stonehenge already."
He laughed, seeming to understand her distain against normal touring. "Well, I promise i won't do that. I'm rubbish at being a tour guide."
She raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what you are though?"
"Do you know the legend behind Stonehenge?" He asked, once again ignoring the original question. Apparently there was no getting straight to points with this guy. "Which one?" There were so many myths and fairy tales behind pile of rocks.
"Have you ever heard of the Pandorica?" He asked her.
"Isn't that something like Pandora's box? With all the most evil things in the world?" She asked, wiggling her fingers like a witch.
"Almost." He laughed. "It's a box said to hold the most dangerous warrior in the world. Stonehenge was just a landmark, an X marks the spot to remember where they put it." The Doctor began to tell her the tale of a man who went looking for it, and how all the creatures in the universe dropped out of the sky right on top of him as the Pandorica opened underneath the stones. Turns out the man who went to protect it ended up being the man in the Pandorica, and all the evil creatures stuck him in the prison, to stay there for all eternity.
"He didn't stay there though, right? He got out?" She said, wrapped in awe at the story, her legs pulled up to her chest like a child listening to a bedtime story. He told it so well; she could have sworn he could have been there.
"Why would he get out?" He asked, quizzically, looking at the entranced girl.
"Because he wasn't evil. They were. It wouldn't be fair." She argued, untangling herself and letting her feet slide back down to the ground.
"What's not fair to one person is another person's justice." He said matter-of-factly.
She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms with a pout. "That's not the end, I can tell. Are you ever going to tell me how the story ends?"
"Maybe someday." He turned, looking back at the man in the back row.
"Why do you keep doing that?" She asked, sneaking a peak herself. His eyes seemed fine now, from what she could see. Of course they were, why wouldn't they be?
"What?" The Doctor asked.
"Looking at him." She chimed.
"Oooooh, Hannah, you wouldn't believe me for a second." He whispered.
"You would be surprised." She said. He looked at her as she kept her eyes on him, one eyebrow lifted. He was stuck looking between her and the man in back, quite flustered, his hands not really knowing what to do with themselves as he flailed them, trying to figure out what to say. Finally he sighed, scratching his jaw line. "I promise, I'll tell you at Stonehenge." He said, hoping she would take the deal.
She paused, thinking for a minute. She hated being patient, and this Doctor wasn't making it to easy. She felt the bus coming to a halt, finally reaching their coffee stop. "Fine, but you're buying us coffee." She settled. He nodded, and then checked through his pockets, withdrawing little trinkets like string, a wind up mouse, glasses, anything and everything except money. With his lap full of random things, he held open a palm with 1 quid and 50 pence. "Is that enough for two coffees?" He asked, hopeful. Hannah rolled her eyes, scooting out from her window seat past him, taking his hand so she wouldn't lose the tall man in the swarm of people piling out. "Come on, cheap boy, Coffee's on me, but you owe me one." She laughed. The Doctor smiled as they edited the bus, the fresh air feeling regenerative on their faces.