My first foray into the Classic Who fandom, featuring the amazing Third Doctor. I hope it isn't too terrible.
Perhaps the Doctor should have been sleeping. No, actually, he really should have been sleeping. Wandering around UNIT Headquarters in the middle of the night was not the best idea. He didn't want to upset the Brigadier further after his attempted escape. Besides, there was a chance he could crash into something rather unwanted. He'd learned that lesson on one of his trips before. There were many many unpleasant things you could bump into the dark.
Still, he would be willing to crash into whatever grotesque figure he wanted if it was happening on another planet.
Ah, to be on another planet…
Of course, he found himself standing before the TARDIS. Why, he just didn't know. It was more than clear that she wasn't working. He'd tried to activate her, and she'd failed. He'd heard the Time Lords declare his punishment, and he'd agreed to stay with UNIT.
And yet, again and again he walked to her. When he wasn't with her, he was usually holding the key or thinking about her and all the worlds she could no longer take him to. She was a fishing hook, and he was attached to the line. No matter how far he wandered, she'd draw him back in eventually.
The Doctor felt a craving for that rush of glee when he accomplished what he needed to. Eagerly rushing to the TARDIS with his companions behind him, no matter who insisted he stay. Deciding where he was going to go next.
Sometimes, when the world slowed down, he would have the TARDIS suspend herself in the sky while he sat down and just watched. Took it all in. The stars and the planets and the life. The infinite universe at his fingertips. It made him wonder why he hadn't stolen it and left Gallifrey earlier. How did he survive staying there for so long?
At least Gallifrey was still heavily invested in time. At least Gallifrey was such an advanced society. But no, he wasn't there either. He was just on Earth.
Stuck on Earth.
Once, during one of Susan's excited ramblings about what she learned about human history, (she would race in with shimmering eyes and a wide smile, he would scoff and pretend he wasn't listening when he was) she told him about this concept humans had about being "grounded." When a child did something wrong, their parent would punish them by forcing them to stay in one room for a certain period of time.
He'd just been keeping up his facade of nodding and pretending her words were flying right over him when she said she thought that was a rather lenient punishment. How could Susan find that a bearable punishment? How could humans find it in themselves to force that?
He'd thought about being grounded, then. The same surroundings, the same time, the same life. No, no, that just wouldn't do. His eyes were constantly scanning for new worlds, his ears for new voices, his mind for new problems. A place was a shiny jewel that became duller and duller the longer he looked at it.
But he'd reassured himself that would never happen to him. After all, he was the Doctor.
And here he was. One place, one time. One little planet among millions, and he was trapped there.
He stared up at the TARDIS again, as if something had changed in the last five minutes. Of course, nothing had.
No, there was one change. That slight hum. The pulsing radiating through the sky, one hint of the bigger on the inside leaking on the outside. That little thing that gave even the most mundane of people the inkling that this blue police box was much more than that. It was gone. She was completely silent.
Oh, a pity she had to be punished too for a mistake he made. The Doctor always claimed he was born a wanderer, but the TARDIS was built for just that purpose. He'd felt it from the first moment he saw her, that this old museum peace needed to see the universe immediately. He'd considered himself a hero for saving her, and now he'd messed that up too.
Still, the TARDIS could watch all of time and space. It was something. Something that he didn't have.
A flare lit up inside of him. It just wasn't fair. Sure, he'd broken a few rules, (okay, quite a lot of rules) but that certainly didn't give the Time Lords the right to exile him. They were a species who practically played with time and the universe. To deprive someone of that...it shouldn't have been allowed. Not to mention forcing his regeneration.
Although, the body he ended up with wasn't bad at all. He thought he could really pull of wearing a cape.
But the Doctor didn't want to change it all now. He had so many things he wanted to do in that form. So many places he wanted to travel to. So many things to show Zoe and Jamie…
No, he couldn't think about that now. They hadn't forgotten him completely. It was better than them losing everything. They were happy somewhere and he was here. Grounded.
Well, there had to some positives. At the very least, they'd dropped him off on Earth. He'd often been taught that Earth was unremarkable, especially in its earlier days. He'd even thought so himself. How puzzled he's been when Susan was so desperate to stay on this planet. At first, he thought it was just odd taste of music. And while she admitted that was a huge factor, there was something else she loved. Humans. She said their behaviors and dreams made her marvel every time. He hadn't quite believed her until Ian and Barbara came along. Then, he'd started to feel a bit of that wonder himself.
Even now, he still felt it. He was still mentally running experiments every time he talked to one. The way they reacted really didn't make any sense. That made them all the more interesting…
Exhaustion stabbed him in the back, and he nearly stumbled. A first, actually. He was the Doctor. He didn't stumble and he didn't mess up. Well, as long as he got enough sleep. It was probably a good idea to get that.
He reached out and patted the TARDIS. He missed her and their adventures. There was no way he would be able to handle being strapped to the Earth for this long. But there was nothing he could do about it now. Rest assured, he would find a way out eventually. For now, he just had to survive.
Besides, the Brigadier and Liz were very concerned about the chaos that was starting to rise all over. They were starting to suspect something was going on, perhaps an alien invasion. Another problem to solve. Another monster to fight. If Earth was an empty layer of sand, UNIT was the chaotic pile in the middle with soldiers who could tell more stories in a day than most humans could in a lifetime. And he was a part of it.
Yes, perhaps being grounded wasn't going to be so bad after all…