Fusion: Warehouse 13/Doctor Who
Notes: This is the first part in a collection of seven AUs spotlighting Bering & Wells - one for each day of AU week. Some will be one-offs, others I hope to revisit in more detail later.
Obviously, this was intended for Day One of AU Week, but got posted a tad late. I owe this idea to the various images floating around of HG as The Doctor - the fit was just too perfect to resist...
~~FIC~~
The young girl with the moss-green eyes fell madly in love the moment she first saw the woman emerge from the blue police box. It would be several years before she understood that fact and what it meant, but the effect was no less profound.
She'd been all of twelve years old the day they met - it had, in fact, been her birthday, and she'd snuck away from her own birthday party to find some peace and solitude in her favorite nearby park.
The party had made her miserable, but escaping to the park she loved so much had chased all of that away - settled comfortably into a swing with one of her favorite books in her hands, the girl was far happier than she had been at any other point that day.
There was no telling how long she'd been there before a curious sort of whining, grinding noise started trying to pull her from the fantasy world in her head. Not wanting to leave that world, the girl automatically dismissed the sound as nearby machinery of some kind.
Once the wind came into it too, though, it was impossible to ignore - she could block out the noise, but she couldn't read with all the pages blowing back and forth. Besides, the girl had a sudden feeling that the source of all the noise and wind was going to prove far more interesting than even her beloved book.
The whining and grinding and whirring reached a crescendo a mere moment or two after the girl had tucked her book away into her book bag - this left the girl's hands free to cover her ears against the painfully loud noise, which she very much appreciated as she also scrunched her eyes shut against the rising wind.
As suddenly as the noise had started, it stopped completely, along with the wind that had been accompanying it. When it continued to remain quiet and calm for several heartbeats, the girl finally dared to open her eyes - not that she could believe what those eyes showed her.
Standing on top of what had been a large empty sandbox just moments before was a battered blue police box like the ones she'd seen pictures of somewhere. Too curious to be cautious, the girl raced over to the thing, so enthralled that she wasn't even frightened when its doors flew open and someone began to walk through them.
The woman who stepped out of that police box looked like something out of one of the girl's stories - black hair, dark eyes, fair skin, and a broad smile on her face. Her clothes would probably seem a little odd to some - a light gray shirt and fitted charcoal vest over loose black pants, with a long black coat on top of it all - but the girl thought she looked just perfect, and so beautiful.
"Well, hullo there," the woman said as she spotted the girl, causing the poor thing to freeze mid-step in a sudden fit of timidity.
The girl, all wide green eyes and tousled brown curls, tried valiantly to form the expected response. What she finally managed to force out was nowhere close to it. "You landed on top of the sandbox!"
"Oh dear," the woman exclaimed as she looked around. Her odd accent - English, most likely - was music to the girl's ears. "I never will learn to park properly, will I?"
The woman looked around again before turning her attention back to the girl. "Darling, I don't suppose you could tell me where exactly I've landed?"
"Colorado Springs," the girl answered with a giggle she couldn't quite hold back. It was, after all, a strange question to ask.
The woman just beamed. "Aces! I've never been to America - not in this body, anyway!"
Then she looked around the park again slowly, seeming a bit confused to find that she and the young girl were the only ones present. "Are you here all alone, darling? It must be close to dark by now."
The girl, apparently offended by the question, drew herself up to her full height. "I'm twelve years old now, and I'm very mature for my age - I think I can sit in a park by myself for a little while."
"Of course," the woman agreed easily. "I was just curious. Did your family not want to enjoy the park as well?"
"They couldn't come with me," the girl explained. "They had to stay at the party. It was boring, though, so I left."
The woman smiled at that. "Parties can be insufferably dull sometimes - I sneak away from them all the time. What was the party for?"
"My birthday." The girl shrugged as if it meant nothing at all to her, but couldn't quite hide the note of sadness in her voice. "None of the kids there even like me - they all think I'm weird for being so smart. They really just want the cake and ice cream, and to hang out with my sister."
The woman seemed aghast. "Not like you? I've only known you for a few moments, darling, and I think you're perfectly marvelous!"
The girl couldn't help a giggle. "Even though I'm boring and leave parties to read books in the park?"
The woman shook her head and made a 'tsk'ing noise. "I guess no one ever told you, then. Only the best, most wonderful people read books in parks - and the really great ones make absolutely certain to do so on their birthdays."
"I'm sorry I interrupted your reading, dear heart," the woman continued, as they both chose a swing and sat down. "What book did you bring?"
The girl's face just lit up at the question. "The Three Musketeers - it's my favorite right now because of all the sword fighting."
After a moment, the girl looked around the park, then leaned in as if confiding a great secret. "I want to learn how to fence!"
The woman just laughed then - like she was pleased, not like she'd heard something silly - and it was the most beautiful sound the girl had ever heard. The laughter the girl normally got after such declarations was usually of a different sort altogether.
Then the woman suddenly hopped to her feet. "Stay right here, darling. I'll be back in just a moment."
The girl expected the woman to simply wander off to go do whatever it was she did, but the woman returned a few minutes later with a huge, perfect red apple and two very long sticks. Sitting back down in the swing, she placed the sticks on the ground beside her.
"Now, I don't have any birthday cake," the woman explained, "but I happen to have something even better - a birthday apple. Here, darling, you hold it and make a wish."
The girl took the apple and stared at it, but no specific wish came to mind. Finally, she had to admit as much. "I don't know what to wish for..."
The woman didn't seem concerned by that. "I never know what to wish for - neither does anyone in my family. There's a little trick we have, though - if we can cut the apple in half with one try, its wishing power stays until you choose your wish."
Pulling a weird-looking sort of flashlight from her pocket, the woman handed it to the girl. "Here, darling, you try it. Just point the blue end at the apple and press this button right here."
The girl did as instructed, smiling as a blue light poured from the end of the thing to bathe the apple. The smile faded to a gasp of pure astonishment as the apple split cleanly into equal halves right in her palm - luckily, she managed not to drop either half and was able to offer her new friend one.
"Now remember," the woman warned, mock-serious, as she accepted both the apple half and her flashlight, "this is a family secret. I'm not supposed to share it with anyone, so you can't share it either."
The girl nodded, green eyes wide and solemn, but any trace of seriousness quickly vanished as she and the woman devoured their respective halves of the apple. The woman had been absolutely right - it was better than any birthday cake the girl had ever had.
Once they were done eating, the woman stood up again, grabbing the two long sticks from the ground by her feet as she did so. Then she suddenly got an alarmed look. "Oh, dear! I do hope you haven't made your wish yet, darling - I wouldn't want you wasting a wish on something I'm about to give you anyway."
The girl, a little confused, just shook her head. "I haven't wished for anything yet. And why are you giving me a pair of sticks?"
The woman moved bonelessly into the classic fencing position, brandishing one of the sticks like a rapier, as the girl's eyes widened in shocked understanding. "Because, darling, these aren't just any old sticks - they're cleverly disguised practice swords, and I can teach you how to use one."
The next hour or so was everything the girl had ever dreamed her first fencing lesson would be - according to the woman, she was a natural at it. She still couldn't do anything fancy after just one lesson, of course, but she felt light and graceful - instead of gangly and awkward - for possibly the first time in her life.
The girl's mother turned up shortly after the lesson was over, her voice carrying through the park before she was even visible - fortunately, the mother knew her daughter well, and was not upset with her. The woman managed to just vanish in the time it took for the girl to respond to her mother's call, but the girl somehow knew she'd be back one day.
The girl finally figured out what she truly wanted for her birthday as she and her mother walked out of the park, hand in hand. She was even willing to use her wish to get it if she had to. "Mom? Can I start taking fencing lessons?"
It took time, and hard work, but things changed dramatically from that moment on. With fencing to strengthen her body and school to strengthen her mind, the girl became quick and clever and confident. She also became happy, accepting herself and allowing others to accept her as well - she even finally managed to start getting along with her father.
The girl and the woman didn't meet again until the day the girl turned seventeen, though the woman was always in her thoughts. This was a little before the internet and cellphones were quite so ubiquitous, so the birthday message was delivered the old-fashioned way - a birthday card, sent via the postal service and slipped in amongst the others the girl had received.
The handwriting was unfamiliar, and there was no name, but the girl knew who'd sent it as soon as she read the hastily-scrawled message on the card - "Happy birthday, darling!" - despite the lack of a signature. It also had a slip of paper inside, bearing only a time and the name of an all-too-familiar nearby park, scrawled in the same hand.
The signature on the note - consisting only of the letters HGW - meant nothing to the girl, but she had no doubt at all about who'd sent the card and the message to her, or what the message itself meant. Just like there was no question that she'd be there at the park at the requested hour.
She was - and so was her old friend, though the police box seemed to be properly hidden away this time. It had been five years since that first day in that very same park, but the girl was the only one of the two who seemed to have changed at all - she could have sworn that even the woman's jewelry was exactly the same.
The woman sat waiting on one of the swings, but she hopped up and raced over to the girl as soon as she saw her. "Look at you, darling! Such a beautiful young woman now!"
The two shared a quick hug, and the girl was surprised to realize that she was now the taller of the pair - she also began to get the first inkling of her true feelings for her strange friend, though it would still take a little while for it to reach her conscious mind.
In the meantime, it was easy enough to let herself be distracted by the impromptu birthday picnic she'd been summoned for. Everything had been laid out before she even arrived, right down to the bright red apple she ate every year on her birthday in memory of that long-ago first meeting - though this time there was also birthday cake to go with it.
The two of them talked and talked, over apples and cake and some sort of weird fizzy nectar that tasted like nothing the girl had ever encountered but was amazing all the same - the story of how the woman had first come to try that particular drink was among the many stories told, and it was hilarious. Just like the last time, the woman seemed to hang on every word the girl said when she spoke, actually listening in the way most adults never bothered to.
Once they reached a lull in their conversation, the girl was presented with her birthday gift - a simple, elegant rapier of exactly the sort she could use in her fencing studies. It naturally followed, of course, that the girl just had to test her new blade - the woman had thoughtfully brought her own rapier in preparation for that very thing, and they spent a riotous few minutes dueling it out.
Winded but happy, they sprawled out on the blanket, staring up at the skies as they began idly discussing astronomy. The woman kept an appropriate distance between them - their bodies angled away from each other, heads almost touching as they gazed upward - but the girl still found herself humming with the same odd tension she'd first noticed during the earlier hug.
This time, though, her conscious mind understood it for exactly what it was - she'd had her share of crushes and passing attractions, after all, even if she'd never bothered acting on most of them. The idea of feeling that way toward another woman was a little strange, but it didn't feel wrong or uncomfortable.
So much about the last five years finally fell into place as the girl found herself watching her friend instead of the stars. Something subtle shifted as the woman placed a hand on her arm to direct her attention to something up in the heavens, and the girl decided to make use of the sense of boldness the touch had somehow imparted - feeling simultaneously nervous and elated, she stole a kiss.
Their lips brushed together, sweet and gentle, but that was all the woman would allow. "You're lovely, darling, and I'm flattered, but I'm not for you - not yet, at least. Be patient - I promise to find you when the time is right."
It took eleven years for the woman to return - eleven years during which the girl finished growing up, made some amazing friends, fell in love several times over once she learned how, and discovered firsthand that life goes on even through grief and loss.
She was, of course, celebrating her birthday again when the reunion occurred, per the established pattern thus far - she was twenty-eight years old now, a grown woman by any measure. She'd long since figured out at least some of her strange friend's identity - hard not to, with all the whispered rumors flying around about the odd, possibly extraterrestrial woman in the blue police box calling herself The Doctor - and done her best to measure up to the same heroic standard.
She'd even joined the Secret Service, hoping it would put her right where The Doctor always seemed to be - some sort of interference, probably deliberate, always managed to put the girl somewhere else instead whenever The Doctor turned up, but at least she was still close enough to hear all the firsthand accounts.
This time, though, she finally got to realize her dream - she didn't understand half of what was happening as she helped track down some weird object that threatened to level Washington D.C., but she got to work side-by-side with The Doctor, and it was glorious. They even stopped off for a quick dinner once they were done, as if it had been just another day at the office - never forgetting, of course, the traditional birthday apple.
Afterward, the world as safe as it was going to be for the moment, The Doctor had invited her back to see the police box, and perhaps even take a quick trip somewhere in it. The girl had been waiting for that invitation for just over half her life, but the anticipation thrumming through her body and along her nerves owed surprisingly little to her lingering childhood curiosity.
The girl had a captive audience while driving them both to their destination, and wasted no time taking advantage of it. "I'm not just going to call you 'Doctor' like everyone else. What should I call you instead?"
Something played across The Doctor's eyes and smile at the question that made the girl's heart beat a little faster. For a moment, it even looked like The Doctor was going to say something flirtatious or off-color, but her answer proved normal enough. "Helena will do, darling."
Helena didn't even hesitate before turning the tables on her questioner. "And just what shall I call *you*, darling? Seeing as that is now the question of the evening..."
The girl blinked in confusion but forced herself to keep her eyes on the road. "You already know my name. Don't you?"
Helena's deep, rich laugh filled the inside of the car, and the girl had to fight back a shiver. "Of course I know your name, darling, but names do sometimes change. There's this aquatic species I encountered once who-"
The girl, not at all sure she had the security clearance for whatever classified adventure Helena was about to tell her, interrupted before the story went any further. "Fine! I'm Myka - Myka Bering."
"That wasn't so difficult, now, was it?" Helena observed amiably. "I do believe your name quite suits you, darling, now that you've grown into it - Myka..."
It was a good thing Myka had already parked the car, because hearing Helena say her name like that would have made it impossible to pay attention to the road. The second they were both out of the vehicle, Helena grabbed her hand and dragged her along as she raced for the familiar blue box - the enthusiasm was infectious and Myka couldn't help but smile.
"Here it is, darling," Helena said as they came a stop just short of the doors. "Home sweet home." She then pulled out a very ordinary and exceedingly un-alien house key, which she used to unlock the doors before disappearing through them.
Myka followed her into the police box and found herself in a huge multi-level room full of unknown gadgets, gizmos, and whirligigs. She stepped back outside without a word, taking another look at the exterior. Eyebrows raised in disbelief, she walked back in again. "It's bigger on the inside..."
"It's a TARDIS, darling," Helena replied, as if that explained everything about it. "Now, what was that lovely saying? 'First star to the right and straight on 'til morning'?"
"I have to be back at work in a couple of days," Myka reminded Helena, moving to stand beside the other woman as she continued randomly toggling switches and adjusting dials. "Can we get there and back by then?"
Helena just beamed and threw one final switch. "Of course, darling - we have all the time in the world."
The TARDIS - or whatever it was - starting making several different noises in rapid succession, causing Myka to wince and cover her ears. The thing lurched suddenly as the cacophony faded, as if adding a flourish to the performance.
The unexpected motion threw Myka directly up against Helena, who seemed completely unfazed by the bumpy takeoff. Helena pulled her close to anchor her, grinning broadly the whole time - she let go once things smoothed out, but only so she could hook her fingers on a couple of Myka's belt loops instead.
Myka could have pulled away if she'd wanted to - Helena's grip wasn't very tight - but obviously felt no need. Instead, she smiled and leaned in even closer, so that their bodies were almost, but not quite, pressed together. "I'm not a little girl anymore, you know..."
Helena just smirked a little, tugging on Myka's belt loops to move her forward that last tiny fraction of a step. "Oh, believe me, darling, I know."
This kiss was nothing like the safe, sweet one from Myka's adolescence. There was nothing hesitant or tentative about it as their lips met this time - just years of carefully nurtured attraction finally being given proper expression, with lots of tongue and some wonderfully inappropriate touching.
It was as close to a perfect moment as they were ever likely to find - right down to the fact that they both still tasted of apples - so of course a dozen alarms went off all at once the second they parted for air. Myka covered her ears, though it only helped a little - whatever a TARDIS was, exactly, it was damn noisy - and tried not to panic.
Helena, for her part, merely thumped a balled fist against the control panel under her legs as if the situation was nothing new. It helped cut the noise by silencing a few of the alarms, but the ones still blaring were, of course, the loudest of the bunch.
Myka spent the next few moments watching Helena perform an odd ballet consisting of seemingly random adjustments to various knobs and levers in conjunction with equally random spurts of percussive maintenance. Helena grumbled as she went, but Myka couldn't hear any of it over the din, and she'd never had her Secret Service partner Pete teach her to read lips.
Finally, relative silence fell just in time to be broken by Helena's loud curse. "Oh, bloody hell! Hang on to something, darling!"
Fortunately, the landing was not as bad as the two women had feared - they even laughed a little about that fact as they tried to work out where they'd ended up.
As for what happened when they left the TARDIS to answer that question, and what strange malfunction had caused them to land so abruptly in the first place - well, that one was a different story altogether...