Disclaimer: I may not know much, but I do know one thing: I don't own the rights for Warehouse 13 or Doctor Who. That's SyFy and BBC.
Author's note: All of the information about the Richard Riordan Central Library comes from the internet, so I'm not saying that it is all actuate, so don't hurt me if I get some things wrong. Oh and on the Doctor Who timeline, this takes place after 'Journey's End.' And on the Warehouse 13 timeline, this takes place somewhere in the beginnings of the second season.
Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering walked down the crowded street, passing locals and tourists alike; the harsh Californian desert sun bearing down on them like an invisible weight on their backs. It was the middle of summer and it was hot, to say the least. But being on the job, they still wore pants and button up shirts, albeit without the jackets their draped on their shoulders. They were in the sprawling city of Los Angeles, trapped in a maze of concrete and asphalt, looking for an artifact that caused hallucination and insanity. Not unusual symptoms for a presence of an artifact, but they were still symptoms none the less, and something was causing it. Now if only they could get a clue as to what it was…
Luckily they had just made a break in the case after visiting a mental hospital where the three victims of the artifact were currently housed. The first one they had talked to was still in too much of a state of shock to speak to anyone, even her own brother. But while the two agents were there, her brother tried to give her a book to hopefully cheer her up (for she was apparently quite a reader before her mental breakdown), but the 20 year old woman cowered away from it like it was the devil in paper form and that it would come alive any moment and gobble her up.
The second one they talked to was speaking, but only barely. It took almost an hour of coaxing for the 50 year old woman to tell them where she was when she started to see things, but it wasn't an exact answer, nor was it even a complete sentence. The only words that she could manage to softly utter were, "walls of books." The two instantly recognized that the common factor between the two were books. But they didn't know about the last victim.
The third, and last, one they talked to was also speaking, but all that would come out of the 30 year old man's mouth was babble about burning books, firemen, Beetles, wall TVs, ignorance, censorship, and approaching war. Myka, being raised with the literary world at her feet, immediately put together those seemingly random babbles and came up with the book, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. The man was talking about the world of Fahrenheit 451. Pete, never having read the book even when it was assigned to him in school, took his partner's word for it.
So all in all, the only thing connecting the three victims was books. That narrowed it down, somewhat. Now instead of the whole city they had to look through, they only had to look through thousands of books stores, libraries, and any other place with "walls of books" for an artifact.
They called Artie with their findings to see if he had any clue as to what the artifact was, and possibly where exactly it could be found.
"…and the third guy was talking about the world of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury," stated Myka, finishing the summary of their interviews with the three victims.
"Wait…Ray Bradbury?" began Artie. The sound of typing keys could be heard in the background as he furiously tried to do something unknown to the two agents. "Ray Bradbury grew up in Los Angeles from the time he was thirteen…and he didn't go to college…instead he went to libraries. He said quote, 'Libraries raised me.' So I have a pretty good feeling that whatever you're looking for is in a library, and is probably book formed or something else you would've found in a library in the 1930's."
"But how would this artifact be connected to Ray Bradbury in the first place?" questioned Pete.
"I don't know…maybe it was his favorite book. Maybe it's a copy of Fahrenheit 451. Maybe…," muttered Artie.
"And since it was probably left in a library, and libraries are public, all three of the victims could've become in contact with it," interjected Myka.
"And that means that if we don't get to it soon, others could become in contact with it and end up in the loony bin like the last three," finished Pete, turning back to the Farnsworth and their boss. "But do you have any idea of the type of artifact that could be causing hallucination and insanity and could possibly be in a library unnoticed and could somehow be connected to Ray Bradbury at the same time, Artie?"
"Not sure at the moment…give me some time and I might come up with something. I'll call you when I do. In the meantime, why don't you two take a look around the fine libraries of Los Angeles? I suggest you start with Richard Riordan Central Library downtown," and without another word, Artie hung up on them, eager to set off and do whatever he did to find out what the artifact could be.
The agents sighed, Pete putting the Farnsworth back in his pocket. At least they were narrowing the search, but there had to be what? 40? 50? 70? 100 library branches in the whole of the monster of Los Angeles? And they didn't even know what they were looking for. This was going to take forever, and the desert heat, big city traffic and smog weren't helping. But the two got in their rental car anyway, and as Pete programmed the GPS to direct them to Richard Riordan Central Library, they both wished that, despite how much they've come to love their job, that they were back in the safe, cold Warehouse taking inventory with Claudia.
ooooo
They reached the Richard Riordan Central Library after about twenty minutes. It was a solid-looking stone building that looked relatively short and out of date settled amongst the tall, sleek, monstrous skyscrapers of downtown LA, but it still held an imposing feel as the agents strolled up the steps and towards the front door.
When Pete and Myka walked into the library, a cold slap of air conditioned air slammed into them. They both sighed in relief, glad that they had managed to escape the summer heat. Inside the atmosphere was grand and regal, with chandeliers, statues, and various murals decorating the place and guarding the library's enormous collection of books.
"Wow," was all Myka could say, overwhelmed at the prospect of trying to find an artifact in this vast building.
"I know. Did you see that guy on the mural? He looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger in a toga and a pink afro on his head," commented Pete.
"Pete, stop staring at the mural and look around. How are we going to find an artifact in this place?" questioned Myka gesturing to the immensity of the building.
"Well, we don't even know it is even in this library. So stop stressin'," replied her partner.
"Pete, don't you see that makes things worse? We have no clue where this thing is, what it looks like, or even all that it can do. We have almost nothing to go on."
"I know that. But it ain't gonna help worrying about it. Everything will work out in the end. Let's just calm down and see if the librarian at the desk has anything information that will be useful."
And with that Pete casually led the way to the front desk, his partner following behind, anxiety still weight down on her shoulders. The librarian sitting behind the counter was not your typical looking librarian. She was young, mid to late twenties, and had her head buried in, what else, a book. Short brown hair adorned her head and a pencil skirt and cardigan decorated her body.
"Excuse me miss," spoke Pete in what he thought was his most suave voice. Myka rolled her eyes as she came up to stand behind her partner.
The librarian looked up from her book to gaze at the two agents. "Can I help you with anything?" she asked, not noticing that the male agent was trying to look his sexiest.
"Uh…yes. You can," said Myka, surpassing Pete to try to prevent her partner from make a fool of himself and disrupt their investigation in the process. She took out from her pocket the pictures of the three victims and showed them to the librarian. "Have you seen any of these people come in here in the past week?"
"Are you secret service?" queried the librarian. "Because I'll have you know that one of your guys has already been here. He asked the same question, too."
The two agents tried in vain to suppress their shock at this news. Who else could've asked that? It couldn't possibly be anyone from the Warehouse, else they would know. Was it someone from Washington? Former colleague? Or could it be someone else that was just pretending to be secret service? If that was the case, who could it possibly be?
"You guys really need to start talking to one another," said the librarian, commenting on the agents' look of shock on their faces.
"Uh…yeah," replied Myka, shaking herself out of her surprise. "Mind telling us what he looked like?"
"Sure. He was tall, thin, the most gorgeous brown hair, and deep chocolate brown eyes. He wore converse…and a floppy trench coat, and a two piece suit underneath, which is odd considering the heat…," muttered the librarian, who seemed to be lost in a memory.
"Okay…," commented Pete, suddenly serious and exchanging glance with his partner. Both wondered who this guy was.
"Oh! And he spoke in a British accent, which I thought was weird because he's supposed to be a US secret service agent. Must've just moved here…," added the librarian.
"Alright…um…and you said that he asked about the people in the pictures," pressed Myka, pointing to the images that were still on the counter before the librarian. "What did you tell him about them?"
"That they all, in the past week, had come up to me asking about our classic science fiction collection," answered the librarian.
"Did they now?" replied Myka. The two agents exchanged another glance. Things were connecting to their Ray Bradbury theory, but who was that guy that was asking about the same things? Why was he doing this? Was he after the artifact, too?
"And where is your classic sci-fi collection?" quizzed Pete.
"Go to the third floor, then go straight down the main row, pass four rows of shelves on the right and you'll be there. 'Fraid it's not that big. Most of the stuff is in the internal stacks. See most of the books the library has are in storage 'cause we don't have enough room to make them easily accessible to the public…if we had more money we could build some space to make the stuff accessible…but you know politics…," said the librarian with a sigh.
"Yeah…well, thank you for your help," responded Myka with a smile, taking back the pictures and heading off towards the elevator.
"Yeah. Thanks," quickly said Pete with a wink and what he thought was a charming smile, and with that he headed off behind his partner.
Once on the third floor, they moved quickly past rows and rows of shelves, which were sparsely populated with people whose noses were stuck into crevasses of books. They were all too busy with what they were doing that they barely noticed the two agents rushing past them towards the science fiction section.
"Okay, that was weird," stated Myka.
"Yeah, who is this guy? And why in the world would he wear a coat and a two piece suit in this heat?" queried Pete.
"Pete," said Myka, exasperated at her partner's last questions.
"I was just kidding…but that is strange," began the agent. "…and I know that that's not the point," corrected Pete after Myka glared at him. "The point is we don't know who he is or why he's asking about the victims."
"He might be after the artifact…whoever he is," interjected Myka.
"Exactly, which is why we've got to find it before Mr. I-wear-a-coat-and-suit-in-the-desert-heat does."
And with that the two agents turned to the shelf that the librarian said contained the library's classic sci-fi collection.
oooo
"We couldn't find anything. Everything was a new reprint. There was no way that any of them could've been the artifact," said Pete into the Farnsworth.
"But it doesn't make any sense, because we know from a librarian that all of the victims asked about that collection. And that's the only connection we could find," added Myka.
"Well, then it must've been something that was there, and for some reason isn't now," replied Artie.
"See that's the thing, Artie…," began Myka tentatively.
"What?"
The agents quickly exchanged a glance, unsure if they should tell Artie because that would surely invoke his wrath. But after a few seconds Myka spoke anyways. "The librarian also told us that we weren't the first to ask about the victims. She said he said he was secret service."
"Wait…What? Who was he?" demanded Artie.
"We don't know."
"The librarian did say that he had brown hair and eyes and was wearing converse, a trench coat, and a two piece suit," added Pete.
"In that heat?" questioned Artie.
"I know! I was confused about that too."
"Anyway…There seems to be another person looking into the victims' condition. He could possibly be looking for the artifact, too," interjected Myka, changing the subject.
"Then we need to find it before he does," replied Artie instantly.
"But what if he already has it? What if it was in the collection, but he got there before us," suggested Myka.
"We can't know that for sure, which is why we have to keep looking anyways, until we're sure…I still haven't found out what the artifact could be. But with this new information, I could narrow down the search, and I'll find out more about this other 'agent', too. Meanwhile, you two see if you can't look into the internal stacks. It might've been relocated down there," finished Artie, hanging up on them as soon as he was done talking.
Myka sighed as her partner put the Farnsworth back into his pocket. "Who could this guy be?" she wondered aloud.
"Beats me," replied Pete.
ooooo
It was night, yet downtown LA was still alive and busy, with clubs pumping, cars zooming, and people laughing and talking. But as the two agents approached the Richard Riordan Central Library, everything became much more calm and quiet. They thought it would be easiest to get into the internal stacks when the library was closed and there was no one to bother them.
Picking the exterior lock was pretty straightforward, and the key pad lock leading to the internal stacks was hacked simple enough with Claudia instructing them through the Farnsworth. So far so good. But it was when they actually got into the internal stacks did things get a bit complicated.
The ceiling was about six feet high, and for as far as the eye could see were rows and rows of cabinets and shelves, all containing what the library couldn't put in the public spaces. Now was the time to get overwhelmed and stressed.
"How in the world are we going to find an artifact in here? We don't even know what it is or if it's even in here," exclaimed Myka, now getting really anxious.
But before Pete could reply to his partner's outburst, an ancient ringing sounded. Pete took out the Farnsworth, and Myka gathered round to see who was calling and what information they had.
"What's up bitches?"
It was Claudia.
"Claudia," said Pete, slightly surprised to see her instead of Artie. "Got anything for us."
"Yep. Good or bad news first?"
"Uh…bad," replied Myka.
"Okay, Artie still hasn't found out what the artifact could be…apparently he's have real trouble with this one…no idea why."
"Alright, what's the good news?" questioned Pete while his partner exhaled an exasperated sigh at the unfortunate information.
"The good news is that I know who you're mystery guy is."
"Well, who is he?" pressed Myka, eager, like her partner, for some information on the shadowy character that was asking about the victims.
"He calls himself the Doctor," replied Claudia with a straight face.
"'The Doctor'?" said Pete with a grunt and a disbelieving smile. "Doctor who?"
"Just the Doctor apparently. And I know how silly this sounds, but that was what I was able to dig up. And trust me, when I first heard the name I laughed too, but after all I've found it sounds legit."
"Okay…," began Myka. "What else have you found?"
"Remember all those freaky 'alien' attacks in London? Well, he's apparently played a part in all of them. They said he 'saved the planet' all that jazz, but I just think he's one of the weirdos that set those hoaxes up."
"'They'?" asked Pete.
"All the fan sites, and evens some government files. God, you have no idea how hard it was to find info on this guy. Even for a computer genius like me. I even crashed the computer a couple times…P.S. don't tell Artie…I mean all the info on this guy is like protected by this insane firewall thing that I've never seen before today. Most of it I couldn't get to. All I had was internet rumors, and only a few of those I was able to confirm."
"Okay…any other information on this guy you want to tell us about?" questioned Pete.
"Nope. The only other thing I got out was that he's dangerous…Don't know if it's like cool James Bond dangerous, or mad-hatter dangerous. I'm thinking the latter, so be careful."
"Will do, Claudia. Thanks for the information," responded Myka.
"'Welcome," replied Claudia, and with that they hung up.
"Great. That makes me feel better. We have no clue as to what the artifact is, and we now know that a possibly dangerous madman is looking into it as well. Great. Just wonderful!" exclaimed Myka, beginning to pace as her partner put away the Farnsworth.
"Well, at least we have some info on the guy," added Pete, trying to put a positive spin on things.
But before Myka was able to retort, a crash sounded in the far back of the space. Someone else was here. Both of them immediately tensed up, alert. Could it be this 'Doctor'? Or was it simply a burglar? Or a stray librarian or clerk? Whoever it was, they couldn't take any chances. Pete silently took out his gun and Myka the Tesla gun, then quickly and quietly the two agents began to make their way to the place where the crash had sounded, Myka taking one row, Pete the other.
They couldn't see anyone else past the ceiling high stacks of cabinets and books, but someone else was here, they knew it. The two agents were closing in on the place where they thought the other intruder would be. They could hear muffled footsteps now, as they tensed up, getting ready to jump out from behind a shelf or cabinet.
"I know you're there, so there's no use hiding or trying to surprise me," suddenly called out a male British voice.
Pete and Myka froze, both unsure what to do in response.
"Don't worry. I'm not armed. With anything that can hurt you anyways…Come on out, please. I don't want to do this. Come out and I'll tell you who I am and what I'm doing here," continued the voice.
The two agents still didn't move.
"Fine…Come on out and I'll tell you how I know that you two are Agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering from the Warehouse."
Pete sprang out from behind a shelf on one end of the aisle, and Myka from a cabinet on the other end. Both agents held their perspective guns at the man, trapping him in the aisle. They both had their eyes widened in shock. But that wasn't from the strange words of the man; it was who that man was. He was the Doctor.
He was exactly how the librarian described him. The spiky brown hair that decorated his head brushed the top of the short ceiling, while a long tan trench coat and a brow pin-stripe suit hung on his thin frame and cream converse adorned his feet. He looked as mad as Claudia guessed him to be.
"Put your hands up!" ordered Myka, heat beating very fast at the sight of their mystery man.
The Doctor did as he was told.
"This is not really a good first impression, is it?" questioned the Doctor with a quirky smile.
The agents said nothing in response. They just continued to hold their guns steady, aiming at the Doctor's chest with their breath moving rapidly as adrenaline coursed through their body.
"What are you doing here, 'Doctor'?" demanded Pete.
"Knew you'd have at least my name by now. And I think you can guess why I'm here, too," replied the Doctor calmly.
"You're after the artifact, aren't you?" quizzed Myka.
"Yep…basically. It's not really an artifact…well I guess to you it is. Anything that is unexplained, you…what was it?...'bag it and tag it'? Yeah, that's it. 'Bag it and tag it.' Anyways, after you 'bag it and tag it' you hide it away in Warehouse…13…yeah, that's it, judging by the year," babbled the Doctor, slowly lowering his hands.
"Oh no you don't. Keep them up," ordered Pete.
So their suspicions that this weirdo was after the artifact were right. But why was he after it in the first place? Was he going to try to sell it to the highest bidder? And how did he know about the Warehouse and them?
The Doctor raised his hands again, but continued talking. "But you see, this 'artifact' that you are after now shouldn't end up in Warehouse 13."
"And why is that?" questioned Myka.
"Because it technically belongs to me. Been tracking it for a while actually. Just missed it when Ray Bradbury took it from the library. Interesting fact: It inspired him to write Fahrenheit 451 among a bunch of other stories of his. There was no way that he could've come up with some of that stuff on his own, really, no matter how brilliant of a writer he was. Although, he was able to handle it without it overloading his brain, so I'll give him that. So anyways…the library eventually got it back, and unfortunately a few people came in contact with it…and you already know what happened next…but that was how I was able to track it down again…so here I am now. Ready to take it back."
"Well, we aren't going to let you," stated Pete, with his partner nodding in agreement.
"Knew you would say that. But you see it really does belong to me…or my people anyways. So I really want it back and…," muttered the Doctor with a sigh. "All this would be much easier if you'd tell me what you know about me."
"You first," replied Myka.
The Doctor raised one of his eyebrows in a perplexed look. But the confused expression quickly vanished as a look of comprehension appeared on his face. "You want to know how I know about you two and the Warehouse, don't you?"
Myka nodded, heart still beating rapidly and hands still holding the Tesla gun pointed at the Doctor's chest.
"Well, you see…It would be much easier if I knew what you know about me first…don't want to sound like a mad-hatter…'Course that's never stopped me before," responded the Doctor.
Behind the strange man's back, for he was facing Myka, Pete sent his partner a 'is this dude crazy or what' look. She gave a curt nod in response. Both felt that they had to apprehend this 'Doctor' soon. Based on his pleading words about the artifact being his, they could tell that he didn't have it yet, and therefore they couldn't waste anymore time talking in case he got away and got the artifact.
But that was unlikely. They had him trapped and he couldn't exactly leap over the shelf because of the short ceiling. Still, it was best that they apprehended the strange man soon. Who knew how dangerous he was? But first they had to know how he knew about the Warehouse, Myka, and Pete. There might be a leak and Artie would definitely want to know everything about it.
"Too late for that bud. We already think you're a nutcase, so stop wasting time and tell us how you know about us and the Warehouse," demanded Pete.
"Fine…whatever you want…Well…you guys are history," answered the Doctor simply.
Both of the agents gave the man a questioning look.
"By that I mean, you and the Warehouses, especially Warehouse 13, are very famous in the future. You're in all the history books. Kids study yah. Trivia shows have questions about yah. You become common knowledge along with famous presidents and movie stars. I'm a time traveler. You kind of pick up these kinds of things."
"Okay, what loony-bin did you escape from?" quietly blurted out Pete before he could stop himself.
"Doesn't matter…Now…Doctor, you're going to have to come with us," responded Myka, changing the subject.
"See…I thought you'd say that, too. And the thing is that, while I would love to take a trip to Warehouse 13, I've got other things to attend to. People to see, planets to save, you know that kind of thing," babbled the Doctor.
"Okay, you may be a nutcase, but we don't care. You're still coming with us, bud," replied Pete, his gun still tightly clutched in his hands.
No matter how crazy the agents thought the Doctor was, they still thought it best to bring him in. He had information about the Warehouse, so they couldn't just let him run free. Who knows who he could blab to? Or what else he could find out. He already knew about one artifact. What about other artifacts? This loony 'Doctor' character was a danger to, not only the Warehouse, but possibly to the world. And the two agents felt that they had to stop him before he did anything else.
"Okay, okay. Fine. I'll go with yah," stated the Doctor, hands still up. "But just let me get something first."
"And why do you think we'll let you do that?" questioned Pete.
"Because it's the 'artifact.' And yes, for you information, I do know where it is," answered the Doctor, saying the last part in response to the look of shock and confusion on the agents' faces.
"Where it is?" demanded Myka.
"The bookshelf directly on my right. On the third shelf from the top, four book from the right," stated the Doctor motioning his head to the shelf he was indicating to.
With a nod from her partner, it was Myka that side-stepped to the bookshelf, Tesla gun still trained on the Doctor's chest. Looking away from the man, the agent one-handedly pulled on a purple latex glove, and took out the book that the Doctor had told them about. It was a thin hardback with a plain jet black cover enclosing a hundred or two of yellowing, winkled pages. Strange, angular writing was engraved in sliver on the leather spine. It smelt and felt ancient, older that the Gutenberg Bible, older than the first book every written, older that human civilization itself.
"The title is The Universes: Part 4. It's a catalogue used by my people to keep record of other universes. And to look into them. It uses the viewer's brain waves as energy to make a temporary window between this universe and another, depending on which page you turn to. And in return information about that universe is fed into your subconscious. But only for a brief amount of time. Most humans can't take that kind of stress on their brains though, even if it is just for a few seconds. That's why those three people ended up losing their minds, so to speak," explained the Doctor grimly. "In a nutshell it basically belongs to me, and I would rather not see it end up in some box, on some shelf, in the Warehouse. It's very rare and extremely dangerous in the wrong hands."
To Pete, all of what the Doctor just said was complete rubbish. In his eyes the dude was a lunatic, and what he just said just proved he was even more of a nutcase than Pete first thought. Not that he doubted the danger of the book, if it even was the artifact. He has been working for the Warehouse long enough not to judge a book by its cover (pun intended). What the agent thought was rubbish in the man's words was the fact that the book did what the Doctor said it did. There was no way that something could create a 'temporary window between this universe and another.' That kind of stuff was reserved for his comic books and cheesy sci-fi movies, not real life. Though it wasn't like Pete hadn't seen weirder things.
Myka, on the other hand, thought differently. It mainly had to do with the fact that she had the book in her hand, and she could feel the immense power that this object contained. There was no doubt in her mind that the book could look into different universes. It may not appear to be much, she concluded, but it does seem to have power. She could feel the weight of it in her hand. The book was heavier with it. She felt her grip on the Tesla gun loosen as she continued to stare at the black cover. It was pulling her in. The power, the influence, the force, the immensity of it was sucking her in. She felt a compelling urge to open it.
"Myka? Myka, can you hear me? Myka?" exclaimed the Doctor noticing that the agent was still staring at the book.
She did not reply.
"Myka?" worriedly called Pete, his gun still pointed at the Doctor, unsure what was going on.
"Myka, look at me. Look at me," urged the Doctor, hands sinking from their surrender position.
She did not reply. The Tesla that was aimed at the Doctor dropped from her grip. Then her now free hand moved towards the black cover.
"No!" shouted the Doctor, forgetting about Pete and his gun and lunging at Myka.
But he was too late. The agent had opened the book. Arms of light erupted from the seemingly empty yellow pages and reached into Myka's mind. Her eyes rolled backwards at the force of it, as the book streamed more and more information about a universe into her head. It was a second or two before the Doctor got to the book, but it was enough. Myka Bering collapsed after the Doctor seized the book from her hands.
"Myka!" exclaimed Pete as he abandoned his threatening gun-pointing-stance when he witnessed his partner fall to the floor.
He rushed up to her, heart pounding in his ears while worry and panic were clawing up his insides. "What happened?" he asked aloud, more to himself than the Doctor.
"Exactly what I said would happen. I should've warned her, but I forgot. It's been so long since I've come in contact with one of these catalogues, that I forgot that they have a pull. The book is naturally hungry for energy; it wants people to open it. Time Lords are able to resist that pull, but human minds are more susceptible. I'm so thick! Why didn't I see that this would happen?" said the Doctor hastily, pacing and pulling at his hair at the same time.
Pete just sat there by Myka's side, staring at the Doctor, thinking he was even crazier, if that was possible. But he soon turned back to his partner, his worry for her overcoming his perplexed reaction. She was clammy to the touch, her breathing was fast, and her eyes were whizzing around in their sockets, staring up at the nothing.
"Wait!" exclaimed the Doctor suddenly, stopping his quick pacing. "If I transfer the information she received from the book into my mind, it should stop her neural networks from being overwhelmed!"
The Doctor bent down next to Myka now, and moved his hands towards her head. But before his fingers could touch her temples, Pete grabbed the Doctor's wrist.
"Hold on, big boy. What do you think you're doing? What are you going to do to Myka?" demanded Pete. There was a fierceness in his eyes that was gained from the worry for his partner.
"You've got to trust me Pete. I know you think I'm a complete mad-hatter, but you have to believe me when I say that I'm trying to help Myka. If I don't do this now, she'll end up like the others before her that opened the book. Or worse. Trust me, and let me help your friend," urgently replied the Doctor, his brown eyes burrowing into Pete's soul.
Later, when he would reflect upon this moment, Pete concluded that it was his eyes that did it. There was something, deep, hidden, and trustworthy in those dark brown eyes that told him that the man was here to help. He may be crazy but he was not going to harm Myka. He was the Doctor. And when Pete realized this he let go of the man's wrist and allowed him to place his fingers on the temples of his partner.
The effect was instant. On the moment of contact, Myka gasped and her eyes stopped their races and focused on the Doctor. He, on the other hand, did not return her gaze for his eyes were closed, and his face a mask of concentration. A moment later Myka's whole body fell limp, and the Doctor pulled his hands away.
"She should be fine now," he murmured. "'Though she'll take awhile to come to. She might also have strange dreams about the universe of 'A Sound of Thunder' every once and awhile from now on. But that's not a big deal."
A silence followed the Doctor's words. A silence in which Pete sat there speechless, dumbfounded, and perplexed while his partner laid unconscious at his feet.
"I'm sorry this happened," stated the Doctor, breaking the silence a few moments later and getting to his feet.
Without another word, he grabbed the book where he had dropped it and walked away, leaving the two agents alone in the internal stacks of Richard Riordan Central Library.
Author's note: The stuff about the catalogues of universes is totally made up by me. I have only seen the new reincarnation of Doctor Who, so I don't know much about Time Lord culture and all that jazz…so if it's, for lake of a better term, out of character for the Time Lords to keep a catalogue of universes, don't kill me. I seriously don't know any better.