The First Meeting
It's so hard getting time off of work when your pay check comes from secret government agencies. And when that agency specializes in alien life and general weirdness? Even breaking away for a brother's wedding is a pain in the ass. As it was, I would have to skip the reception, even though Leadworth was only two hours away by train. Stupid Weevils.
I never actually had the chance to get away that much with this job. It didn't give me much of a social life either, after I started working here a couple of years ago. But since then I have found friendship and companionship from my workmates. As for love, well... I was currently having an affair with one.
I used my elbow to push the buzzer for the front door of TORCHWOOD. There was a click as the intercom turned on from the other side. "If you came back without my coffee, I'm not opening the door." I smiled at Jack's accent. I had heard that the Americans adored British accents, but on this side of the pond, American voices were the exotic ones.
"Have I ever returned from a coffee run without coffee?"
"No, but you have come back with the wrong order."
"Not since my first week. Open the door or I'll drink it myself."
The front door rolled back and I walked into the TORCHWOOD Hub. "I'm back guys!" I called out to the Hub in general as I set the tray down on the communal table. "Come and get your coffee!"
Martha snatched her coffee from the coffee table. "Oh my gosh Paige, you are a life saver. You'd think that Jack would spring for a new coffee maker." She rolled her eyes at me. "Whatever. How long are you going to be gone again?"
I shrugged. "Not very long. I'm getting the train down tonight and I'm getting it back tomorrow afternoon. I'd like to stay longer; I haven't seen my younger brother since he got engaged to the... to his fiancée."
Martha caught my tone and raised her eyebrows. "I take it you don't like his fiancée."
"Dear Miss Amelia Pond used to be a kiss-o-gram," I bit out, sipping at my own coffee then putting it back on the table. "I mean Rory could have done so much better than her," I bit out once again, tugging off my black leather jacket and slinging it on the sofa nearby.
"Paige, fetching coffee only counts if the coffee makes it up to my office."
I pulled a face at Martha. "Coming Jack!" She laughed at me as I picked up his coffee and went up the stairs.
I was barely in the door before Jack whisked the coffee from my hand and pushed me against his desk with a deep kiss. As he began to kiss along my jawline and nibble at my ear I pushed him away from me. I was hot and flustered, yet still smiling.
"I have archiving to do before I leave."
Jack pulled me close again and kissed my neck. "I could easily find something for you to do right here."
I sighed, a bit irritated. "Jack honey, while staying here and doing nasty things in your office is something I would love to do, you know full well that I can't."
"Why not?"
I pulled his hands out from under my shirt and lightly shoved him away. "I have work to do, you have work to do, and we've been sneaking around like this for six months. Keeping something like this from the rest of the team is starting to put me on edge."
Before we could continue our discussion, Mickey shouted up the stairs.
"Jack! We've got a visitor in a big blue box!"
Jack released me and went dashing down to the main level. I followed him, but paused at the top of the stairs. There was indeed a big blue police box-how old were those things anyway?-parked in the middle of the Hub. Martha and Mickey looked incredibly happy to see it, but I could tell by the set of Jack's back that he was angry.
I went down the stairs to the main story level. I see the door of the police box open and the mind of a youthful man with floppy brown hair poked his head out, taking notice to of where he was. "Oh, you've got some nerve showing up here," Jack hissed at the man. "I lost most of my team in your absence and could have used your help." Jack strides strode over to him. The man tried to back into his box, but Jack grabbed his lapels and pulled him out, slamming him against the side of the box.
"Or 'hello' like as people usually say in greeting. But never mind that." He grabbed Jack's fingers and tried to peel them away from his tweed jacket but wasn't successful. "Could you not? It's hard to iron this thing." Mickey and Martha made noises of protest at Jack's action.
"Where the hell have you been for the past year, huh?" Jack shouted angrily. The man's feet were no longer on the ground, and I quickly went over to Jack, knowing that he would regret it if he hurt the man.
"Jack! I'm sure that..." I looked at the bow-tied man as I didn't know his name.
"I'm the Doctor," he introduced himself and stretched out his hand towards me awkwardly while still being held up against the box. I shook it carefully, seeing irritation replacing the anger in Jack's face.
"I'm sure the Doctor..." I blinked, somewhat perplexed. "Seriously? 'The Doctor'? What kind of name is that?" I stopped myself again. There was a niggling in the back of my mind that I'd heard the name somewhere, but I ignored the feeling.
"Oi! Don't knock it," he told me. "It's a perfectly good name. Anyway, I've had it for a while, can't actually do a great deal about it." He shrugged his shoulders even with Jack still holding him against the police box.
"You must have had some strange parents," I commented. "Now, as I was saying. Jack, I'm sure the Doctor has an explanation for anything you're upset about. Maybe if you put him down, he could explain it to you." I put my hand on Jack's shoulder, squeezing his shoulder to try and calm him.
Jack set the Doctor down and took a deep breath. He stepped back to give himself space. "So?" Jack demanded quietly, waiting for the Doctor to explain.
"Jack, you know that I can't and don't fix everything that happens." The Doctor's voice was mostly calm, with hints of apology and certainty. "That's not how it works. And I've always tried extra hard to stay out of your business and organization. And..." The Doctor breathed in before continuing. "And after the last time I saw you, I had a... well, I guess I had to go away from life and people. All people that I knew. I didn't even let anyone travel with me. I know you know what that's like, Jack," the Doctor pleaded. "When you get so old and tired that you can't look anyone who knows you in the face..." His voice trailed off. "Forgiven?" He held out his hand for Jack to shake.
Jack smiled and gripped the Doctor's hand. "Yeah. We're good." He pulled the Doctor into a brief hug that was borderline awkward and let him go again.
The Doctor grinned lopsidedly. "Glad to hear it." He turned to Martha and Mickey, flinging his arms wide and hugging them each in turn. "Good to see you both! How have you been?"
"Well, we got married," Martha told the Doctor. He looked between the two and made a face.
"Married couples everywhere I turn. I've just met a different pair of those."
"Don't knock it," Mickey said defensively. "Anyway, not like you haven't changed."
The Doctor brightened up and spun around. "Like it?"
"You got shorter," Mickey shot at him. "And your clothes look weird. Lost all fashion sense with this regeneration. Bow-ties? Really?" The Doctor straightened his bow-tie. "Don't knock the bow-tie. Bow-ties are cool."
"Regeneration?" I asked, the word sounding odd in the context Mickey placed it. The Doctor turned to look at me. His green eyes seemed strangely observant.
"You've heard of reincarnation?" I nodded. "It's like that, but completely different, and I remember my past lives. Didn't catch your name before."
"Paige Williams. I take care of the paper work."
"Oh, so Jack gave you the boring job."
"If I worked anywhere else, it would be boring." I realized we hadn't broken eye contact since we started speaking. He wasn't particularly attractive, but there was something very... awake in his face, something I had never seen before.
Jack noticed the eye contact and spoke up. "So, travelling with anybody?" The Doctor turned to look back at Jack.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have got a couple on board, and they're still waiting. Which is unusual considering Amy's temperament." He turned around and leaned on the door of the box he had appeared from, opening it and stepping inside."You might as well come in!" he called back, his voice sounding further away than it should have.
"But we won't all fit," I pointed out as Martha and Mickey stepped into the box. Jack grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
"Oh, we will. Don't you worry," Jack winked at me.
I pulled Jack to a stop in the box's doorway and stared at the impossible sight of a massive room bathed in bright light, stairs going every which way. A console full of contraptions and gadgets sat on a glass platform that showed the level below.
I let go of Jack's hand and stepped back outside the box, walking around it with my hand trailing along the wood. I stepped back in and stared, aware how baffled I looked. "It's bigger on the inside"
"It's called the TARDIS," the Doctor called out from the top of one of the staircases. "It stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space." He sounded supremely proud of the ship. "This ship can travel anywhere in time and space." I couldn't not smile, realizing that I rather liked this man, despite the fact that I had only just met him.
"Where have those two got to?" Doctor asked no one in particular as he went down a different hallway. They must have heard him, because I could hear the sound of two pairs of feet approaching.
"Doctor! You better have a good excuse for why we're not in Venice yet!" The voice of a young Scottish woman shot out from the somewhere. It sounded horribly like my brother's fiancée and made my skin crawl. We never had liked each other, even as children.
My mouth dropped open when the Doctor's companions appeared at the top of a set of stairs. Fortunately, my brother Rory and his darling Amy seemed equally shocked to see me. The hell? Amy was looking slutty as usual-though to be fair to her modest clothes she could make anything look slutty. Rory, on the other hand, was still in that printed T-shirt that I knew had been made for his stag party. At least he had the decency to wear a jacket over it.
"Oh, there you are!" the Doctor exclaimed happily. "Let me introduce everyone." The Doctor started to introduce them but Amy spoke first.
"Paige?" Amy asked, her voice sounding accusing to my ears. "What are you doing here?"
"You first," I shot back.
