Author's note; Sooooo being a massive Kylie Minogue fan, I've been sort of on an Astrid Peth stan kick lately. Now, I apologize if my characterization of her seems off; it's always harder with a one-off character. Also, this is just chapter one of what may become a multi-chapter fic. I've got a whole story arc idea for these two, so it might end up being like every chapter is a new adventure they go on (or maybe every two chapters, since this got a little long). It's also a bit rushed in some places, especially the end. I apologize, I wrote so much of this in a massive chunk of time one day that I had started to lose the concept of reality. ALSO this will probably get shippy because Ten/Astrid is honestly like one of my OTPs okay.
Sidenote; if any of my OITNB fic readers are here, I would like to say that I PROMISE to get new chapters up in my Nichorello fics soon. I sort of lost the muse for them recently, but I am not giving up. I adore Nichorello too much.
Okay, onwards then! Enjoy and pls review whether you liked it or not, yeah?
Whooshing and whirring, the TARDIS made a rather heavy landing this time. The Doctor had been flung across the console, later pulling himself up as everything seemed to settle down.
"Oi, what's the matter?" he pondered, his hand gently caressing the controls as he circled the console. "Bit excited, are we? Well, let's have a look then!"
He'd been on his own for quite a while now. Donna was gone, back to her family with absolutely no memory of their time together. He'd known all this time that traveling with him was getting more and more dangerous for those he cared about and he'd have it no more. Being lonely was never good for him, but he had to deal with it. He simply couldn't go on destroying lives of perfectly normal people any longer. Now it was just a boy and his box. And the box was very adamant about landing here; wherever that was.
No longer bothering to check the scanner, he'd grabbed his trench coat and dove out the doors with only one arm in its sleeve. It appeared to be a city of some sort. A much more advanced one to those on Earth. Well, he loved a good city every now and then. Shoving his other arm into its rightful sleeve, he pressed on, strolling down the moving sidewalks that aligned a road of hover cars. It had reminded him a bit of New Earth, but he didn't dare let that thought linger in his head for much longer. It certainly wasn't New Earth; he could see patches of purple grass peeking through cracks in the mechanic walk; not a very well kept city.
Not entirely friendly either. From the crowds of people he'd passed, he'd been bumped into and yelled at multiple times. Still, with the benefit of the doubt, it was a planet he'd never been on before and that was enough to drive him on further. He did have to admire the brilliant, vast structures in the background, which he chalked up to as shipping docks. This planet, wherever it was, seemed to be very industrial, looming under the shadows of large shipment carriers slowly moving overhead in the sky.
There was one place that had caught his attention; at least the name had. The Spaceport Diner. He was beginning to put the pieces together that this planet, or at least this particular area, was capitalizing on its large shipping industry, as every little shop he'd passed had "Spaceport" somewhere in its windows.
But this one particular name, this Spaceport Diner, for some reason was floating in the back of his mind. Maybe he had been there before; it had just been so long ago he couldn't remember? Well, if the scenery was lacking, perhaps the local cuisine could make up for it. He had to step inside; maybe it would jog some memory.
The place was sort of cute. It resembled an old 50s Earth diner, but the figures on the wall he imagined were local celebrities mixed in with a few pictures of the area in a much fresher, younger state. A slight smile tugged at his lips as he slowly trailed along, observing every picture.
The diner was nearly empty, only two of ten tables filled and no one at the counter. He wasn't even sure if the place was open to strangers, or just to crew of the ships, but as he'd doubted his presence there, a cheery voice in a waitress' uniform had called to him.
"Have a seat wherever you like, sir. I'll be with you in a minute."
He made his way toward the counter, still eyeing some of the photos on the wall before finally turning to look where he was going. He'd planted himself down into one of the metal chairs and rested his arms on the off white countertop.
Then, the mess of pushed up blonde hair that had spoken to him earlier turned around to hand him a menu. "Don't believe I've seen you in here before; figured you might need this," she smiled at him.
The Doctor felt his hearts sink. Astrid Peth. The woman who dreamt of traveling. He'd suddenly remembered why the name of this place sounded so familiar; she had told him back on the Titanic about working here. But she didn't recognize him; he could tell just in the way her eyes seemed to curiously examine him. She was alive and well and very clearly in a timeline that took place before the events on Christmas Eve. Oh, he should really go. He should really, really go.
But that smile on her face. That innocent smile. He'd let his emotions get the better of him once again and stayed.
Only just realizing how long he'd been silently staring, he snapped out of it and returned to her a bright smile; the smile he gave to anyone he hadn't seen in so long.
"Right! Yes, sorry," he nodded, picking up the menu and allowing his eyes to break from her briefly enough to read the contents of it.
"I'll be right back to take your order," she said, grabbing some sort of cloth and exiting from behind the counter to go clean off one of the previously occupied tables.
The Doctor had absolutely no interest in the menu as his eyes began to wonder, following Astrid with every step she took. How did this even happen? How did the TARDIS allow it? Maybe, if he left now, his face would get blended in with all the other faces that pass through here and that's why she wouldn't remember him. Maybe-
"Have you decided yet, sir?" her voice had come back to break into his thoughts; realizing his eyes were nowhere near the menu any longer.
"Oh, um, actually… never really been here before. On Sto, I mean. 'Suppose you give me whatever's good, eh?" he offhandedly waved, as if pushing the responsibility of choosing something away, and set down the menu.
She quirked an eyebrow, still smirking ever so slightly, and leaned down to write something on a small pad of paper. "So you're just here on business?" she asked, turning around briefly to hand the paper through a window in the wall, but making sure to face the Doctor again as quickly as possible.
"No, no. Just… sorta passing through. I have this ship - likes to drop me off wherever she pleases."
Memories of a similar conversation he'd had with Astrid on the Titanic were flooding back now; the moment he had learned about her dreams to travel. And the way she was quizzically admiring him now, he could tell those dreams were still in full fledge.
"You're a traveler?"
"Yeah," now he was beaming at her, but almost sad like. Sad that she had never gotten to see the universe with him. "Oh, but you can call me the Doctor. Just the Doctor. Traveling Doctor!"
She looked as if she was going to speak, but then her mouth shut and her brows furrowed. Her eyesight was just over his shoulder, staring now out the window where mumbled screams could be heard. His eyes followed her and they could see people running, tripping, stumbling over top of each other.
The Doctor jumped up and bolted for the door, not even realizing Astrid was close behind him. As they stepped outside, it was made clear what everyone was running from. The moonlight had been blocked out by a ship much larger than any previously in the sky. It was casting a green light, as if scanning the city. Men in uniforms with guns were pushing people aside, pointing their weapons to the massive ship above. The Doctor made his way to one them; Astrid intended to stay as close as possible to this new stranger.
"Oi, you don't really think that'll help, do you?" he always got snarky at people pointing guns.
One of the men had lowered his weapon and put a hand up to the Doctor. "Sir, I'm going to need you to get inside somewhere."
"Sorry, not very likely," he dug his hand into a pocket lining the inside of his coat and pulled out his psychic paper. "There you are," he held it up for the soldier to read, seeing a surprising reaction on the young man's face.
"You're from the Agency?"
"Really?" the Doctor tilted his head to inspect the paper for himself. "Right! Yes! I am. Exactly. Agent John Smith," whatever agency he was referring to, he certainly hoped they used those terms. "And this," he motioned back to Astrid, who was leaning over his shoulder in an attempt to get a look at the paper herself, "is Agent Astrid Peth, my second in command. NOW- suppose you lower your weapons and tell me what is going on? You're being invaded, yes?"
Upon hearing her name, a name she swore she didn't tell him, Astrid's eyes lifted from that strange paper in the Doctor's hand to look curiously at his face. He was too busy with the soldier to notice her wondering eyes watching him, however.
"No, pirated. They've finally come to steal the stock."
"Stock, what stock?"
"The crystals."
"What type of crystal; where did they come from? And who's trying to take them?"
"They are!" the man pointed upward at the ship and the Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Blimey, fat lot of help you are, then," and turned around on his heels, grabbing Astrid's hand and dragging her off down the walk.
At this point, the streets were clear and everything had grown quiet. The ship was still looming above, scanning, as the men remained pointing their guns to the sky; still as statues.
They approached the TARDIS and the Doctor pulled Astrid inside. He had let go of her hand when they got inside and dashed over to the control panel. Astrid, however, stopped dead in her tracks when she saw where they were. A vast interior shaded in brown and greenish blues. Was this the ship he had mentioned earlier?
The Doctor flicked away at some levers and ran about the console, his eyes never leaving what he was doing. "Sorry, no time to pop outside and have another look, so let's skip it, shall we? It's called the TARDIS; Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Can travel anywhere in all of space and time. And yes, IT IS bigger on the inside. Now, off we go!"
"Wait a minute," she finally spoke up, taking a step closer to where the Doctor was, but not too close. "Back there… are you really from the Agency? What was on that paper you showed that soldier? And how did you know my name, because I don't believe I ever told you that."
The rapid pace at which everything had been happening previously seemed to slow down. The Doctor tilted his chin back a little bit, only now realizing how much he had slipped up. "Look, Astrid, we really don't have tim-"
"You've met me before, haven't you? I can tell. There's something about the way you look at me…"
The Doctor stepped away from the controls, lowering his gaze to stare at his trainers as he rocked back on the heels. "Weeeeeeell… I did say space and time, didn't I? Perhaps… in your future… my past… we've met once before. I'm sorry, I can't tell you more than that. Spoilers, ya'know?"
Astrid was quiet now. All the questions that were running through her head; the ones she had saved to spill at the exact second they had a moment of peace had all gone. Except for one. But she was afraid to ask it. And the Doctor could clearly tell by the wary expression on her face, so he quickly changed the topic.
"As for the whole Agency thing. Nope! No idea what that is, to be honest. Look," he pulled the paper out of his pocket again and flashed it in front of her. "Psychic paper. Shows them whatever I want them to see. WELL- … sometimes, anyway."
"You're kidding?" the grin had returned to her face and an eyebrow popped up. This man was truly amazing.
"Ohhhhhh, Astrid Peth, you've seen nothing yet!" the Doctor beamed as he bounced back to the control panel. "Now, if you don't mind, we've got a mystery to solve. Have you any idea what these crystals might be?" he asked as he started to punch in coordinates.
"No, I've never heard of them. They must've just come in, because I usually overhear about all the shipments that come in from the stock crew at the diner."
"That or it's one topic off limits."
"What do you mean?"
But instead of answering, the Doctor flipped a large lever and the TARDIS began to fidget, rocking the two around. Astrid hadn't been expecting it and immediately grabbed for the console, trying to steady herself. Just as she had, the rocking stopped and the Doctor flung himself toward the doors.
"Here we are then, allons-y!"
Blue light being emitted from the console had warmed her face as she turned to look back at where the Doctor had run off to. "Where are we?"
"On the ship, of course," he said, pushing the TARDIS doors open and stepping outside.
Astrid followed him once she'd gotten control of her legs again. Once outside, she turned around to get a better look of the ship they'd just come from. She wasn't able to see it too well when he had dragged her inside earlier, so she attempted now to get a good glance around it, noticing just how small it was on the outside compared to the inside. "How di-"
"Dimensional wibbly wobbly stuff. Best not to ask. Looks like we're in the greenery. Whoever's aboard this ship isn't accustomed to the air on Sto, look-" the Doctor bent down and picked up a rock at his feet, moving to show Astrid. "Oxygen rocks," he sniffed it, trying to locate where they were from but coming up empty. From the corner of his eye, he could see the strange look Astrid had given him. "Keep 'em aboard the ship so they can breathe without any sort of suit. They must attack a lot of planets if they're this prepared."
The Doctor talked so fast, it took Astrid a minute to follow what he was saying. She'd gone to inspect the rock he was holding up, but he'd already thrown it down and was walking again. She couldn't help but notice how excited he seemed to be. And how natural all this felt. He must do this sort of thing a lot.
She'd caught up to him once again, where he was looking down at a map on a podium. Between the time he had left her to the time he was now staring at the map, he'd somehow managed to put on a pair of dark rimmed glasses that Astrid noticed looked very dashing on him. "Oh, that's lovely. They've marked it for us," he said, pointing to a little arrow that sat next to the words 'YOU ARE HERE'. "Control room; that's where we want to go. Corridor B, section D4."
"That doesn't make any sense. Shouldn't it be section B4 if it's in corridor B?"
The Doctor's head lifted, quirking an eyebrow up at her. She watched him for a second before realizing she ought to explain herself on that one.
"Well, when I was a little girl I used to sneak aboard the ships that came into port and explore them, till I got too scared that I'd be caught and then I'd run off. I used to imagine I was part of the crew and they'd take me away to see the stars. But on those ships, the section letters always matched up with the corridor letters. Makes more sense, doesn't it?"
Then he flashed her an admiring smile. There it was. That adventurous young woman he'd met on the Titanic. She noticed it and looked away, feeling a blush bellowing in her cheeks.
"Seems like you do this often," she stated, trying to change the topic and get as far away from his gaze as possible.
"Oh, sometimes. Never try to. I'm just a traveler. But it never seems to work out that way."
"Bet it could get lonely though, couldn't it? A whole wide universe on your own. Do you have anyone? Who travels with you, I mean…"
Now the Doctor had finally broken his gaze from her, which she noticed. He'd walked into the diner with sad eyes and now she was beginning to understand why. Now she was the one staring at him, watching carefully with eyes equally as heartbroken, but for him.
"No. Not anymore. I mean, I did… once. But they're all gone. They've left or forgotten me… or died," his voice seemed to be on the verge of shattering at that last part, and he'd done everything in his power to not look at her.
Astrid wasn't entirely sure how to respond. She didn't want to push the gloom in his voice any further and instead put a comforting hand on his arm. He lifted his head finally and met her bright blue eyes.
"You know…" she started, stumbling to find the words she wanted to use, and wanting to use them so carefully, "It's not right to be alone all the time. I haven't got anyone either. So, I sorta know what it feels like. Maybe… you could use someone… to look after you. I could…" she trailed off, noticing the switch in his eyes, as if he were dreading the idea.
Really, he was afraid she would say that and he wasn't sure what to do or say. Naturally, he'd love to have her aboard, but it just couldn't happen. She wasn't supposed to remember him on the Titanic. And traveling with him was so dangerous; if anything had happened to her, he wouldn't bare to watch it all over again. Never again could he watch Astrid Peth die.
"You can't. I can't tell you why, but you can't. C'mon," was all he said before he was pushing himself off the podium and heading for the doors. But then he stopped, turned on his heels, and nearly had Astrid bump into him as she wasn't expecting his sudden change in pace. "No, sorry, hold on, first things first."
The Doctor stuck his hand into the inner pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a small white piece of paper; much smaller and thinner than the psychic paper he'd pulled out before. He held it up in front of Astrid's face, their bodies so close together she could feel the warmth of his hand radiating on her skin.
"Here, put this on your tongue. Should dissolve fairly quickly; give you a few hours of adjustment to the oxygen difference on the ship. Just in case. They've got oxygen rocks, anyway," he placed it in her hand and turned back to leave the area.
Astrid did as instructed and followed after him.
"You don't need one?" she questioned as she had almost caught up.
"Naah. Time Lords can adapt to nearly anything, really. WELL- …. almost anything. Mars is a bit of trouble."
"Mars? What's a Mars?"
Astrid found herself having to catch up to the Doctor often. He walked fast and seemed too ingrained on finding his way around that he hadn't bothered to look behind him to see her falling behind. Of course, she had taken a few tries at looking around the new scenery, only to realize she was quickly losing speed on him and having to jog slightly to match his pace again.
It went on like that for a minute or so before they'd finally reached the control room. Much to the Doctor's surprise, it was empty. He dashed over to the controls and quickly began to observe, pulling out those specs Astrid swore he wore so brilliantly.
The room was aligned with vast, open windows, which had immediately caught Astrid's attention. The sight from above the city, above the planet she was longing to get away from, only now had looked stunning. Not because of the contents below, more so the idea of looking down from an alien spaceship that had made it seem so much more breathtaking. There was a small flash of a smile tugging on her lips, until she'd heard the Doctor mumble something. Her brows furrowed and her face tightened, her body turning to move next to this bizarre traveler of hers.
"What is it?" she asked, her eyes peering over his shoulder but not quite catching onto what he was so amazed by.
"No autopilot. How could the ship be orbiting without a pilot?"
"Doctor…" she paused for a second, the realization hitting her, "I don't think there's anyone on this ship."
"No… I think you're right. But that doesn't make any sense," he crossed his arms and leaned back against a control panel behind him. His head tilted back, what looked to be intense thought mixed with a slight loss of hope. Astrid's eyes were glued to him, staring up in brilliant, sad blue hues. "There's something missing… "
It seemed to Astrid that not knowing was really distressing him. Something about this was, at least. So she straightened her back, cross faded that sympathetic stare into a small smirk and squinted her eyes. "Right. Guess it's back to your space box then."
The Doctor turned his head to look at her, a single eyebrow popping up.
"Well, we're not going to solve anything standing up here, are we? We'll have to go back down and investigate from there."
It had returned, once again, on his lips; that admiring smile. He was quite proud of her, this woman he barely knew, yet understood perfectly.
"Alrighty then," he beamed now, holding his hand out for her to take. She smiled brightly in return and grabbed hold.
And then they took off running. Down the corridors, into the TARDIS, both smiling boldly along the way.
Upon stepping out of the TARDIS, the two found themselves surrounded by guns aimed directly toward their heads. Astrid had come to the quick realization that they'd landed in the loading docks of the spaceport. She had recognized this particular dock from her childhood adventures of sneaking around here. So, it only made sense they would tighten down on security during an alien raid.
It didn't take a word out of the guards for them to put their hands up. The Doctor did it instinctively, Astrid did it out of fear. And through a helmet spoke a mechanic voice.
"You are not authorized to be here. You will come with us or be shot."
Hearing this, Astrid bit down on her lip and tilted her head up slightly to eye the Doctor. He seemed rather passive and not likely to move anytime soon.
"Um, well, yes, we'd love to 'nd all that, but… guns a bit much, yeah? Don't suppose you could… put those down?"
The guards didn't budge. In fact, it looked like the one in command was gripping tighter around his weapon.
"No, wait! We have permission, here look!" Astrid had spoken up, quickly moving her hands to dig into the Doctor's pinstriped pocket. He hadn't been expecting her to reach over so suddenly, he almost jumped when he felt her hands through his shirt.
She had pulled out his psychic paper and presented it to the guards. "See! We're just…. mechanics! Testing out a new prototype. We were just bringing this one back," she had stepped aside slightly to point back at the TARDIS. "It's a bit too small."
"Oi!" the Doctor shot at her and for a brief second she cautiously side-eyed him before returning her full attention to the guards.
There was a moment of silence as the commander stepped forward to examine the paper. His gun had lowered, much to the Doctor's delight. One of the other guards had lifted his face mask and squinted his eyes toward Astrid.
"Hold on. I know you. You work at that diner around the corner."
The commander was clearly interested by this statement, as his helmet visibly lifted from eyeing the paper to eyeing the girl in front of him. Astrid took a step back and looked down briefly, hoping the Doctor would help with this one. Luckily;
"Ahh, well, y'know. Poor ol' gal. Things been a bit rough lately. With… the economy!" he took a pause and leaned forward, making sure to sharply whisper the words "Utterly rubbish," toward the guards.
"Yeah, but she's still in her uniform and everything!"
"Oh, what can I say!" Astrid's hands flung up from her side, pulling into a shrug, "No time to change, these days. All those shifts, why bother, anyway?"
"Shame. Absolute shame," the Doctor nodded in the background as Astrid rested her hands on her hips.
The commander looked back at his fellow guard, who seemingly had no more objections, before turning around to hand her the paper back.
"Well, either way, you should have been instructed that this dock is closed. You'll have to move this ship immediately."
"AH, yes! We- we will do that. Right now, c'mon," the Doctor turned to face the TARDIS, grabbing gently at Astrid's elbow. The guards seem to be convinced, as they had broken up and wandered off.
They both froze for a few seconds outside the doors, waiting until all the guards were out of earshot. Then it had struck Astrid just what had happened. Her eyes widened and her brows furrowed as she stared off into space, a hand resting over her heart.
"I can't believe that actually worked. Did that seriously work?" she gasped.
"Ooooh, Astrid Peth, that was genius! YOU are genius," he beamed at her and her eyes went to meet his.
It took a brief second for her smile to catch up to his, but eventually it did and her whole body followed. "It really worked!" she laughed, jumping in place before throwing her arms around the Doctor's neck. He returned the hug, his arms coiling around her small waist and lifting her up in the air for a good ten seconds.
He set her down and gripped firmly onto her hand. "C'mon then, still got a mystery to solve, eh?"
"There!" Astrid pointed as they dashed through the loading docks. Hundreds of spaceships lined up on multiple levels, all aimed toward a large opening in the wall. It was surrounded by some sort of shield that the Doctor guessed kept the climate outdoors from affecting the temperature inside. Rather clever, actually. The two had been running along the upper walkway, suspended above all of the parked ships. It was thankful for them, Astrid knew exactly which ship was typically used to transport the more important cargo, as that was typically the ship used on logos around Sto. Not quite as clever.
They snuck their way down to the massive stock ship and Astrid showed the Doctor how she used to sneak aboard them many years ago. She never once thought her private adventures would come in handy. But now here she was; with this strange, intelligent man following her directions. The idea that anyone half as important as the Doctor seemed to be would ever being following her lead… she'd never have believed it an hour ago.
Luckily, her entrance onto the ship led straight to the vaults where the cargo was stored. Unfortunately, they were locked. She peered out one of the windows, getting a frightening image of just how many guards were standing around this particular ship. Well, at least she knew now whatever they were looking for was here.
"What do we do now?" she asked, turning away from the window to face the Doctor again.
In the brief few seconds she wasn't looking at him, he had managed to get one of the vault doors opened. Confusion, once again, flickered across Astrid's face.
"How'd you do that?"
"Sonic screwdriver," he offhandedly replied.
"Sonic screwdriver?" she repeated, perking up an eyebrow.
"S'what I said," and then he ducked off into the vault.
For some reason, Astrid thought he might've enjoyed the whole 'not quite explaining everything' idea just a little too much. But alas, she followed him in.
He was hunched over some sort of crate he must've pried open already (probably with that sonic whatever thing-y he didn't explain anything about), his eyes glistening. There was a purple glow that warmed his face, seemingly being emitted from the contents of the crate.
"Well? Any clues?" she questioned, stepping closer to him. She had intended to return to his side, but before she could, he had sharply turned around and paced out of the vault.
His hand swung up to tear the glasses off his face. She could tell upon approaching him that he was angry.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Crystiki."
"What?"
"They're not just crystals, Astrid. They're a living species. They've been harvested from their planet. Highly intelligent creatures, probably worth millions in the eyes of traders. But so much more than that. And they're crying for help. That ship up there, there was a crew. We just couldn't see them. They were probably embedded in the hardware; would make it nearly impossible for anyone to raid their ship. Ohhhh, so much more intelligent than the stockmen of Sto, eh?" he was livid, pacing around in front of her, hands shoved deep into his pockets. "No offense."
"None taken. So what do we do, Doctor? How do we get them home?"
He went silent for a moment, clearly deep in thought. It was a good question. They couldn't just walk off the ship with hundreds, possibly thousands of crates of Sto's most treasured cargo. Well, they couldn't walk off the ship.
"Do you know where the control room is?" his eyes seemed to widen and a smile began to creep on his face.
Astrid knew exactly what he was thinking, but there was no way it could work. But… maybe with the Doctor… she was starting to see that the impossible wasn't actually that impossible with him.
The Doctor had set Astrid up at the controls, telling her exactly which buttons to press and when to press them. She had never flown a spaceship before. Nor had she ever stolen anything before. Yet here she was, about to fly a stolen spaceship right under the nose of hundreds of guards.
Whatever the Doctor was doing behind her, she had no clue. He seemed incredibly engaged in something and she finally knew what this sonic screwdriver of his looked like. He was holding down some switch he had installed into the control dock when he lifted his head and nodded toward her.
"Alright then, go on. Brand new sky!" he hollered delightfully.
Astrid took a deep breath as a shaky hand reached out to press the buttons he had instructed her on earlier. The ship began to power up and lift and she was actually taken by surprise on how smooth it was. Apparently she had gotten used to how unsteady the TARDIS was in the past two times she'd been aboard.
"Acceleration!" the Doctor called out, and she pressed the next button.
Before she knew it, the planet of Sto was out of sight and nothing was left before them but stars piercing through the deep black background. They were in space. She couldn't believe it. But before she could get too carried away with its beauty, the fear of what they had just done was hitting her.
The Doctor ran up to her, taking control of the panel as he began to punch in coordinates.
"What happens if they follow us? They're not just going to let us go that easily."
"Whaddya think I was doing back there, eh? Making tea? Ohhhhhhh no! I was building a short spanning cloaking device. They've lost us by now, surely. Only temporary, of course. Limited resources 'nd all. BUT, it should get us far enough from Sto, nobody'll be able to find us. Quite brilliant, I know."
"What about the other Crystiki? They're still floating above Sto."
"Well, I imagine they'll hear their siblings crying and follow us back; like they did before."
"So… we did it?" Astrid seemed hopeful, but there was also a part of her that didn't want it to be over. She wasn't ready to say goodbye to this man.
"Not quite. Once we return them home, I've got to get back to the TARDIS and remove the coordinates of the Crystiki's planet from the intergalactic database; hide the planet. Make sure they're not raided again."
He turned to face her, his body still aimed toward the large window before them, but his eyes examining her every feature. He smiled softly, sadly, but in a way that still comforted her.
"You were truly brilliant, Astrid Peth. I'm very glad to have met you."
"Me too," she smiled back, but he saw just how sad that smile was. He had to look away.
Once they had arrived to the Crystiki's planet, the two began to spread the crystal creatures back in the metallic dirt they had been harvested from earlier. It had taken maybe hours, but neither of them minded. The longer the better. The Doctor wouldn't admit it to himself, but he was just as sad for this adventure to end as she likely was. Not only that, but he wasn't ready to see the look on her face when he left her on Sto.
Eventually, they had finished and the Doctor found aboard the stolen space barge a couple teleporters that would get them back to Sto without the trouble of talking his way through all those guards. Not to mention, walking back into an armada of angry guns off of a stolen ship with missing cargo, they would surely put a price on Astrid's head. The Doctor simply wouldn't allow that. No, it was better to sneak back in. They would never know who took that ship.
When they had gotten back to the TARDIS, the Doctor offered Astrid one last view of space. He had shot the TARDIS to drift above Mars and let her lean up against the doorframe to take in the sight. He stood back at the console, glancing up at her every now and then. She seemed to be totally consumed by the beauty of it. He admired her. He admired her desire to travel, her love for anything new. He admired her brilliance and her sense of adventure. Oh, who was he kidding? She was perfect.
"Well, there we are then," he flipped one last switch on the console before strolling over to where she stood; taking a place next to her. "The Crystiki's planet is off the radar. Should be safe for now."
Astrid didn't respond. He leaned forward slightly to try and see the expression on her face. She was wide eyed; completely star struck. He could see tears forming, but she blinked them away. His jaw clenched and he looked away from her.
"Now…. most people don't cry."
"It's… just so incredible. I've always dreamed of what it would look like but I never thought- …"
The Doctor smiled and looked down at his feet. She wasn't paying attention, but he was reaching into his trousers pocket and pulling out a key. He took hold of her hand and slipped the key into her grip.
The second she felt the cold metal on her warm skin, her eyebrows furrowed and she looked down at what he had left in her hand. She didn't speak, but instead lifted her eyes to meet his, which were already staring intently at her.
"A key, to the TARDIS. Figured you might need it. If ya like," he casually smiled.
"But I thought… you said-"
"Ohhhh, nobody'll know. Just us. You and me. Our little secret."
Astrid could feel her heart racing. Was he really asking her to run away with him?
"'Sides! Can't go back to Sto now. You're technically an outlaw, Astrid Peth. 'Course, they don't know that. Still…"
She laughed, shaking her head in disbelief.
"You do realize you've sent Sto's most famous transport ship adrift in space, right?" she arched an eyebrow, face alit.
"Go on then! Wardrobe's down the hall, first door on the right. Find something… sunny. I'm taking you somewhere sunny. Absolutely stunning! Think you deserve it."
Astrid was glowing and he couldn't help but return with a beaming smile of his own as she jumped up in excitement.
"Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" she cheered, going to give him another tight, happy hug.
This time he held his grip on her longer, spinning her around once or twice. A whole new adventure, a bunch of new skies. Who cared what would happen in the future. Timelines be damned. He was wrong. He needed someone. He needed her. And she deserved to see anything and everything he could offer. And who was left to stop him?
Astrid Peth. Citizen of Sto. The woman who looked at the stars and dreamt of traveling. Now she would travel forever. With him.