[Author's Note: I own neither Carmen Sandiego or Doctor Who.]

The Coin of Ammon was a famous artifact of Ancient Egypt. It was currently making its way down a dark alley at night, in the pocket of a red coat.

Carmen kept quiet, her head down, unnoticeable to anyone who might pass by. She was walking up the dark alleyway, both sides of her flanked by tall, black walls.

There was a sound. An unearthly, deep, pulsing, whooshing sound. Carmen stopped.

If someone had been at the front of the alley at that moment, and looked into it, they would have seen Carmen Sandiego's red coat sharply against a glowing, blue large object behind her. Just for that moment, that's what they would have seen.

Carmen turned around.

It was a box. A big, blue box. Carmen recognized it.

A door opened on the box. Carmen raised an eyebrow.

A rough-looking man in a beat-up leather jacket and a skinhead haircut stepped out. He leaned back against the box, crossed his arms, and looked at Carmen. He spoke with a strong Northern English accent.

"H'lo, Carmen."

"I assume that's you, Doctor."

"Yup."

"Your ears are bigger than last time."

He gave a mockingly cheeky exaggerated smile.

"Yours aren't. Been a while, hasn't it Carmen? Well, it's been a while for me. Has it been a while for you? I think it has."

Carmen brushed her hair away from her eye. "What are you doing here, Doctor?"

Another cheeky, insincere smile. "This is the night the Coin of Ammon was stolen. All the future history books say so. I wanted to come see who did it. Not that I didn't have a pretty good idea already."

"Was your idea correct?"

"It was."

There was silence between them for a moment. They each interrogated each other with their eyes.

"Doctor, if you're going to offer to let me go with you again, I'll have to decline."

"Who said anything about any offers?"

Carmen gave a small grin. "I did, of course."

The Doctor shrugged and glanced around. "So… heard you made quite an interesting life for yourself."

"I have."

"What brought all that on, then?"

Carmen sighed. "I had a friend. Traveled with him for a little while. It was exciting. Everything was exciting. And, when I had to leave him, and go back to my old life, it was dull. I wanted more excitement. I needed more excitement."

The Doctor nodded. "Right. Fair answer. But why the grand larceny? Woman as capable as you, you could pull off absolutely anything dangerous and exciting. Why steal national treasures and artifacts in particular?"

Carmen brushed her hand against her pocket, the one with the Coin of Ammon in it. "Because the museums don't own them. The historical societies don't own them. The billionaires don't own them. The countries don't own them. I steal things that belong to everybody, things that should belong to everybody."

"Oh," said the Doctor. "I see." He turned away for a moment, looking at nothing, then turned back to Carmen. "Like alien technology?"

Carmen said nothing.

The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "Look, Carmen, there's a time and a place for everything, and that includes technology. The tech ACME was storing… it was alien, centuries earlier than it should have existed. There are rules and laws of time, and it's better for everything if they're followed. The tech had to be returned to its own time and place."

Carmen's gaze was cold. "And who makes those rules and laws, Doctor? You?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"We could have helped people with that technology, you know. We might have even been able to save lives. But now we'll never know. Because you had to follow some obscure abstract laws that only you say exist."

The Doctor looked angry now. "Yeah? Well you still came with me, didn't ya? You still traveled with me."

Carmen shook her head. "Well, it doesn't matter anymore, now. I'm different. We're both different. Now, we're both enemies of ACME."

The Doctor's expression softened slightly. "Hmm. Suppose that's true."

He glanced back at the blue box behind him. "Well, s'pose I'd better get going. I was only in town to stop a Slinkrech invasion, and just thought I'd stop to see the famous Coin of Ammon robbery on my way out."

Carmen's smile was sardonic. "There's always another reason with you, isn't there, Doctor? You always have to be fighting aliens or saving aliens or something like that. You can't ever just go somewhere to say hello to somebody."

The Doctor shrugged and opened the door to his blue box. "Carmen, I have a question for you, and I think you have a question for me. You go first."

Carmen was used to the Doctor's uncanny ability to almost read the mind. "Doctor, those future history books… what do they say about me? About the rest of my life?"

The Doctor's smile was wicked and ironic and sad all at once. "Can't tell you that. Spoilers, you know."

Carmen nodded. "I undersand."

"Now my question, Carmen, was this: this friend you traveled with… did you see him as just a friend? Or… maybe something more?"

Carmen grinned. "That, Doctor, is my secret, to eternally keep."

The Doctor shrugged. "Just curious." He stepped into his box. "See you around, Carmen."

Carmen nodded. "I believe you will, sometime."

The door shut, and Carmen watched as the blue box slowly vanished into thin air, accompanied by that same whooshing sound.

The Doctor had gotten a freebie tonight, she decided, but next time she wouldn't let him off so easy. Stealing a blue box that could travel throughout time and space… that would surely get her in those future history books.

-END-

[I can't believe that this is the first combination of DW and WitWiCS on the site. I'm rather proud of this. R&R, por favor.]