A/N: I'm baaaaaaaack! :D So yes - here we go again! It turns out I just can't resist writing this verse, who knew it would be so addictive? :S
Again, un-betaed. Feel free to point out any irritating mistakes in reviews (:
Disclaimer: *insert funny disclaimer of own creation because author's brain has decide that it's tired and doesn't actually want to work right now*
Dedication: To Lauren (Or Doctor-John-Holmes to you lot) for being generally amazing, and lovely, and epic, and lovely. (Did i mention lovely?)
Happy Extremely-Very-Late Birthday Hollyboppers! :D (These fics seem to be centred around birthdays… who knew that they would be all the motivation I needed?)
Here I go again…
The Doctor looked at the control panel in complete confusion, waving his arms uselessly over the blinking lights. As he bent down to get a closer look the Tardis shuddered again, sending him sprawling over the controls. He heard a shout as the movement sent Amy and Rory crashing to the floor as well.
As he slowly pulled himself upright an alarm sounded, filling the control room with a high pitched metallic screaming.
"Doctor!" Amy shouted from her unladylike position on the floor, "What's going on?"
"I don't know!" He answered, running his long fingers through his hair, and trying to resist the urge to pull it from his head. He knew from experience that it didn't help in a crisis. He tried to make sense of what had happened; one minute they'd been cruising away from the 16th century, the next the control panel had gone up in smoke and the Tardis had thrown an almighty strop. "There's just a load of flashing lights!"
"What do the 'flashing lights' say?" Rory called, trying to draw on his car knowledge.
"Ermm, Oil, Fluid, Rift Energy…" The Doctor reeled off.
"They're all working?"
"No, they're all not."
"Oh dear."
"That doesn't even begin to cover it Mr Pond"
He had barely finished his sentence before there was another bone-rattling crash, and a corner of the room combusted into red hot flames.
"I'm going in for an emergency landing!" The Doctor announced, "Hold on tight!"
"We are!" Amy growled from her position on the floor. It wasn't fair that the Doctor seemed to have an uncanny ability to keep himself mostly upright.
Said man was currently running madly around, pressing the only buttons that weren't already flashing, and yanking levers in strange new directions - many of which Amy was pretty sure they weren't supposed to bend to.
"Landing in five!" He shouted over the screaming of the alarm and the roaring of the fire. Rory increased his grip on the hand-rail.
"Four!"
Amy struggled into a more upright position, pulling her skirt back down slightly.
"Three!"
Rory freed one of his hands and gripped Amy around the waist.
"Two!"
The screaming of the alarm increased, and Amy was reminded momentarily of a kettle coming to boil.
"One!"
Amy and Rory screamed as the Tardis shuddered violently, and the unmistakable sound of books crashing down in the library shook the floor.
And then… it all stopped. As suddenly as it had begun; the madness finished, leaving the couple gripping each other tightly on the floor.
The Doctor stood in the silence for a moment, before clearing his throat and straightening his bow-tie. He then calmly removed a green fire extinguisher, and set about putting out the flames in the corner, completely ignoring the bundle of companion on the floor.
Amy was the first to open her eyes, prodding her husband hard in the side when she saw the Doctor in the corner of the room, jumping backwards every time he let loose an orange spray of foam. She heaved herself upright on shaky legs, dragging Rory with her, and staggered over to where the madman was stamping out the remains of the fire.
"Will we ever be able to land peacefully?" She asked sternly, but her eyes were sparkling with amusement.
"Probably not, no." The Doctor winked back.
"So where - ahh - are we exactly?" Rory groaned as he straightened out his fingers, trying to shift the cramp in his knuckles.
"Give us a moment!" The Doctor mock-complained, "You might not have noticed but I've been a bit busy with the whole fire situation."
"Yeah, but it's not really unusual is it? Fire in the Tardis." Amy winked.
"Shut up Pond."The Doctor slapped her arm affectionately and moved around to face the monitor, ignoring Rory's attempts to see around him and check their location. Sometimes he hated the Doctor's habit of gelling his hair to double it's normal height. It just wasn't fair when it came to trying to see over him.
He almost jumped out of his skin, however, when the Doctor suddenly laughed loudly and spun the monitor round to show them where they had landed, just as a tentative knock sounded on the door.
…
They had been sitting, quite happily, in the sitting room; Sherlock dissecting the crap TV, and John trying to keep up with the storyline over the noise of Sherlock's insistent complaints, when a familiar sound filled the room.
'Oh well.' John thought, 'There goes my chances on catching up with Corrie'. It had, at least, shocked Sherlock into silence for the moment though; silver lining to every cloud.
Sherlock's face was unusually expressive as the outline of a blue box thundered into the only space of their living room; his eyes lighting up like a child's on Christmas morning. When it finally landed, he jumped upright, clasping his hands together; and John could've sworn he could practically see the cogs whirring in his brain.
It was strange, really, how this kind of experience ceased to shock John. He wondered whether normal people would consider it strange that an alien man in a blue box could land in the middle of their living room, and the only inconvenience John could think to voice was that he didn't have enough teabags for everyone.
Sherlock just raised an eyebrow at him in amusement, before knocking on the wooden blue door and waiting for their unexpected guests to enter.
Which they did; emerging in a cloud of black smoke and accompanied by the scent of burning. John ran to get a tea towel, and stood directly underneath the fire alarm, wafting away the tendrils of smoke that threatened to set the sprinklers off, not wanting to end up soaking wet as well as slightly grouchy.
Talk about adding insult to injury.
His bad mood vanished, however, when he heard the childish happiness in the Doctor's voice.
"Sherlock, and dear Dr. Watson! It's been too long!" He gave Sherlock a quick hug, before turning and engulfing John in a tight grip. John was certain that when the Doctor pulled away he would have an imprint of his jacket fabric across his cheek.
"Hello again" He smiled, turning to see Rory and Amy standing awkwardly in the corner of the room. "Rory, Amy, Nice to see you again - in normal clothes this time" He joked, and they chuckled along with him and came over for a handshake and hug respectively.
"How long exactly?" Sherlock piped up.
"What?" The Doctor looked confused, "How long what?"
"How long since you saw us last? You said it had been 'too long', it wasn't a difficult deduction that you've taken longer to reach this point than us."
"Oh, right. About, three months."
"Three months!" John interrupted incredulously, "That's… crazy!"
"Probably not for Time Travellers John." Sherlock stated.
"No. Of course not." John rolled his eyes, before heading to the kitchen to put the kettle on, mumbling under his breath the whole way, much to the amusement of the visitors; "Going crazy. Time travellers in the living room. God forbid we have a normal night in…"
"So, how long exactly have we been gone for?" Amy piped up from where she'd settled down on the sofa, glancing over at her husband who was inspecting the books on the dusty old bookcase.
"Four days."
"Oh. That's… a little strange. Miss us much?"
"Not really" Sherlock had never been one for tact anyway, "I've had a lot on."
This caught the Doctor's interest, and he poked his head back around the doorframe, from where he'd been trying to subtly inspect the rest of the flat. And failing. "A new case?"
Sherlock raised an eyebrow, "Yes"
The Doctor had been expecting this since their last visit. "Lot's of disappearances, people walking home, disappearing - maybe random people asking for help? Got any mould in here Doctor Watson?"
"There's some in the fridge" The army medic replied, before disappearing back into the sitting room, and handing out the cups of weak tea.
"What are you talking about?" Sherlock called to the Doctor over the sound of the Ponds thanking John for their drinks.
"Your case." The Doctor clarified. "This isn't what I meant when I asked for mould." He complained, holding up a Petri dish full of a green growth he'd pulled from the fridge.
"My cases haven't been disappearances."
That grabbed the Doctor's attention, and his eyes flitted upwards instinctually.
"What?"
"My cases. They haven't been disappearances."
"Oh. That's odd. What have they been then?"
"Murders."
"Oh dear." The Doctor stated, almost imperceptibly glancing upwards towards the ceiling. "That's… new."
A/N: You likey? Review and let me know if you want it continued :D