Going to the Chapel
A Doctor Who story
1—A Case of Mistaken Identity
Adora sighed, putting down the book she had been reading. It was late evening on Renstigon and though she was tired it was too hot to sleep. There wasn't so much as a breath of breeze and she had never liked being too warm, so she had been trying to distract herself. She'd gone out on the porch, she'd gotten a cold drink and turned on some fans and she'd tried reading, but nothing was working.
Forget this! she told herself. I'm going to take a nice, cold shower and then I'll feel better.
Adora got up and went into the house. She picked out a sheer, short nightgown for when she got out of the shower, knowing that though she might not be presentable she would be cool. The chances of getting company were slim; the closest neighbor was two miles down the road in one direction and three in the other. She undressed, placed her clothes in the hamper next to the toilet and got in the shower, turning the water as cold as it would go and wet her mass of black ringlet curls to rinse the day out of them. She hummed a little as she cooled off, turned off the water and reached for some citrus-scented body oil . . . and screamed as she was startled by some strange man standing in her bathroom staring at her! She backed into the shower stall and then . . .
"Hush, Adora!" the man told her, "There's no need to be alarmed."
"Who . . . who are you? What do you want?"
The man, who was of medium height and weight with a receding hairline and hard blue eyes scanned her again and answered, "It's me, Adora—the Doctor! Who else would it be?"
"Doctor? Oh, thank Rassilon it's you! Where are the boys? Are they all right?"
"The boys are fine," the Doctor told her, chuckling. "I had no idea I would find you like this, but it is a pleasing way for us to get . . . reconnected."
Adora felt uncomfortable. The Doctor seemed to be paying far too much attention to her state of dress and not in a pleasant way. This regeneration must be very different from the one she had known and she felt it was not an improvement. She reached for a towel to cover herself and asked worriedly, "They aren't right behind you, are they? They don't need to see me like this . . . I would just die. They are, aren't they?"
"They aren't, Adora . . . no need to worry about modesty, at least not for their sakes. Or for mine, actually." The Doctor still had a lustful smirk on his face.
"How many regenerations have you had since I last saw you?" Adora asked. "And the boys? They haven't regenerated, have they? You should have told me . . ."
"Adora, don't worry your pretty head about them. They're busy on their own pursuits at the moment; I wanted to see you."
"And you couldn't wait until I got out?" she asked, annoyed. She passed by the Doctor to her bedroom, deciding against the nightgown she had picked out. Part of her wished she had a thick sweatshirt, a coverall, even armor to grab, anything to get the Doctor's attention off her body.
The Doctor frowned as he followed her into the bedroom. "Relax, Adora; I've already seen everything you display, though I am happy to get a chance at the display again."
Adora threw on her winter robe and whirled to face him. "What do you want?" she snapped.
"Does a man need a reason to visit his lovely wife?" the Doctor questioned, still frowning. He held out a hand and after a minute Adora took it. He stroked her hand for a moment, then dropped it. "I need something from you," he admitted.
"What would that be?" Adora asked suspiciously. Something just wasn't right, but she couldn't put her finger on it. For now though, she would play along and see what she could do.
"I know we've had problems before, but I really need you to come and—"
"No! Not again! When will you learn that—"
"It's important, Adora!" the Doctor snapped. "Do you think I would come here looking for a pleasure cruise? We've gone that route, part of why you resent me now."
"I don't resent you!" Adora fired back. "How many times do we have to go through this? It's like we're stuck back on that horrible swan ride the boys made us go on! Hear me, Doctor and hear me well—I. Don't. Want. Adventure!"
The Doctor stared at her fiercely. "This isn't about adventure, Adora! We're talking about a Universe-changing chain of events. I'm not asking for myself, not even for the boys. It's important. I can't tell you how much this matters. Come with me, Adora."
Adora sighed, all her fight gone. "Right this second?"
"I can give you thirty hours, Adora, that's all I can spare. One day. I'll be back this time tomorrow, and I will expect you to be ready."
Adora nodded, ashamed and defeated. "Tomorrow. I'll be ready."
The Doctor gave a curt nod, then exited the room.
The night was long. Adora didn't even try to sleep; she was too upset at losing her peace, at having to go along with someone she already felt uncomfortable around, at the unfairness of the Universe. Was it too much to ask to have a decade or so of relative stability? For Rassilon's sake, it had only been six years since she'd last seen the Doctor. Six years! It just wasn't right.
She went into the city that morning to make some arrangements. Her mail would have to be stopped. Someone would have to keep an eye on the house and hopefully keep her garden alive. She bought a large supply of Earl Grey tea just in case she couldn't find any wherever they would be going, packed up a suitcase with her favorite clothing and sent a message to her agent to let him know she would be off-planet.
Around three in the afternoon she heard the familiar, wheezing whine of the TARDIS engines as the craft landed in the yard. She instantly became angry; he hadn't even given her the courtesy of a day to prepare as he had promised. She marched up to the door of the TARDIS and yelled, "How dare you! You promised me one day, and you can't even—"
A familiar tall-framed man with unruly brown hair, freckles, and deep brown eyes bounded out of the TARDIS, calling out, "Adora! It's good to see you again . . . but were you actually expecting us? How could that be?"
Adora stopped dead where she was. "It's you! But you came last night . . . you came in my bathroom and stared at me like a lecherous old man and told me to be ready for you to come tonight . . ."
The Doctor looked puzzled. "What? Adora, I wasn't here last night. I was on Earth, making some last-minute adjustments for . . . Adora, I swear it wasn't me! Did it look like me?"
Adora shook her head. "You said you regenerated . . ."
"What about the TARDIS? Did you see it?" The Doctor was clearly worried now.
"No," Adora confessed, starting to shake. "If it wasn't you, then who . . ."
The Doctor stepped out of his TARDIS and pulled her in for a hug. "I have no idea, but I'm glad I'm here now. Whoever it was is potentially dangerous. I came here to take you anyway, but especially now you've got to come; you aren't safe here until we know who that was. Can you secure your TARDIS?"
"It's in the attic, looks like an old, full-length mirror."
"It should be safe enough. Do you need to pack?"
"I already packed; you—well, someone who claimed to be you said I had to be ready by tonight and I've spent most of the day preparing. Doctor, who was it?"
"I have no idea, but I'll keep you safe until we can find out."
"Why did you come, then? What brought you here?"
The Doctor grinned. "You're going to love this—Kenarn's getting married! He wants you to be there, of course, and I was sent to fetch you. We'll figure out what's going on, rest assured, but right now there's a wedding waiting for us. I'm going to scan your house quickly for any traces of your mysterious stranger and Thalmidor can . . . Thalmidor! Take your mother inside and bring her things; some very unsavory character showed up here last night and I want to get a read on who it might have been."
The Doctor waited a minute, then stepped back into his TARDIS, calling, "Thalmidor! Come get your mother and her things!"
He came back out with a hand scanner and started for the house. A minute behind him came another tall, brown-haired man with freckles and dark eyes. He smiled broadly and bent down to kiss Adora's cheek. "Mother, you're looking well. Where are your things? And Father said something about an intruder?"
"My suitcases are on the verandah, Thalmidor, and your father's dealing with the intruder matter. You look just the same! How long has it been?"
"We've been traveling for fifteen years, Mother. Oh, the things I've seen! You can't imagine the half of it . . ."
"Are you happy?" Adora wanted to know as they sat down on the porch swing. "All the travel, all the danger . . . are you happy with it?"
"It can be overwhelming at times," Thalmidor admitted, "but I wouldn't trade it for anything. And I've used at least eighty-eight percent of everything you taught me, Mother, so I was well-prepared. I take back any complaints I made about studying and learning. Even knitting—I saved a world with a well-knitted scarf, but that's a story for another day. Are you sure you're all right?"
"A little unnerved, actually," she confessed. "There was a strange man in my bathroom claiming to be your father and I took it at face value—no probing questions, no hearing that awful racket you can usually pick up a planet away, nothing . . ."
Thalmidor stood and remarked, "Well, next time you'll be more careful and will know what to do. And here comes Father! Did you find anything?"
The Doctor sighed. "Artron energy fades after ten to twelve hours, so all I can say for sure is that the intruder was a time-traveller. I suppose he could have been a different me, but it wasn't one of my past regenerations; I would have remembered and I only knew how to get here because of Thalmidor. I'll have to go over the incident with you in detail, Adora, but we can do that in private."
"Before we go, I have to pick out something for the bride-to-be; what mother-in-law would I be to show up empty-handed?"
"Take her some flowers from the garden, Mother," Thalmidor suggested. "Snethiss is from 90th century Earth and in her time only the super-rich can afford fresh flowers. It'll impress her and her family a ton."
"I'm not trying to impress anyone," Adora protested, but she made it a point to choose flowers that were at the height of their glory. She took a while, but neither of them tried to get her to hurry. "All set," she said finally.
The Doctor came over and took her hand. "I set an alarm in your house to show if someone tries to get in while you're gone; it'll send a signal to my TARDIS and we'll know. Also, Thalmidor and I will stay with you once you get home, probably for a few weeks. We can't be too careful, you know . . ."
"Thank you," Adora told him. "Well, on to the wedding!"