A/N: The setting takes place post-Doomsday and is concurrent with Gilmore Girls episode 3.21, "Here Comes the Son". Time is a wibbly-wobbly thing, y'know.
Also, huge thanks to my beta reader, flower gettin' lady!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 1
The young brooding teenager slumped back into the cold, plastic seat of the bus as his eyes followed the back of his girlfriend who was waiting to get off. A part of him wished he had taken a different bus that day, but he knew that deep down the reason he hadn't was to take one last good look at Rory Gilmore.
As the bus came to a raspy halt, she turned to him as if she understood the gravity of this final moment. He didn't think that a single look could move him so much, but as she lifted her piercing blue eyes toward him expectantly with an earnest but hesitant smile, all he could feel were monstrous pangs of regret and remorse.
More than anything, he wanted to look away. But he remembered that this was to be their last moment. So he smiled quickly and gave her a look of reassurance.
"Call me?"
He wouldn't. But it didn't matter. She'd soon discover this lie as she would all his others. He watched her ponytail swish back and forth as she descended the steps and soon she was gone. And just like that, he had let go the one thing in his young teenage life that had made it bearable.
Feeling broken and beat, Jess Mariano resigned himself to the comfort of silence and the rhythmic lull of the bus. As he saw the images of Stars Hollow disintegrate around him through the window, he wondered how it ever turned out this way. And he wondered what he would have done differently...if time could be rewritten.
"Alright, Baby Blue, we need a new adventure - an eccentric one - the most eccentric one," the Doctor rambled.
He moved about squeakily around the TARDIS console, lowering the monitor toward him, smashing keys exuberantly in his research to find the perfect destination.
SACCHARUMPTIA, the screen read. Description: A universally heralded garden literally made of sweets, located on the planet of Fantasie X. Visitors receive free edible foam fingers.
"Been there and done that...Though Roald Dahl did like it quite a bit."
SOLANUMATO. Description: A dream for the potato enthusiast. This modest planet serves every existing potato dish in the universe. Today's daily special: Chips drizzled with dragonhoney sauce!
The Doctor rolled his eyes. The TARDIS knew him well, but Potatoland - really?
"DULL, although chips were always-"
The Doctor paused a moment as the painful memory of a certain blonde flashed within his mind. He immediately shook head, finding himself ridiculous that a single word 'chips' could make him so fragile, so feeling. So human.
"C'mon, somewhere fun," he prodded the TARDIS.
STARS HOLLOW. Description: Rated most eccentric Earthly destination in a 2011 multi-galactic poll for alien tourists. Town Hotspot: Luke's Diner. Population: 9,973.
"Well, that just sounds delightful," the Doctor declared, cheering up immensely as he cranked levers and turned the knobs.
"Stars Hollow," he repeated, "I do like the sound of that."
"I think you really, really, really want some of this ice cream."
Rory Gilmore groaned, clearly irritated at the rude interruption. She glanced up from her textbook into the playful blue eyes of her mother, Lorelai, who was waving a quart of Cherry Garcia in her face.
"You know you want to - all the cool kids at Chilton are doing it," her mother teased.
"MOM, I really need to finish this chapter. Do you want me to fail my finals?" she demanded, continuing to flip through the many pages in front of her.
"I don't wanna wait, for our lives to be over," Lorelai belted, completely disregarding her daughter's question.
Rory stifled a giggle. "Are you really singing the theme song from Dawson's Creek right now?"
"I want to know right now what will it be...I don't want to wait for our lives to be over, will it be yes or will it be - sorry," her mother finished grandly. "And you will most definitely be sorry if you don't take a bite of this right now."
The young brunette rolled her eyes and finally gave into her mother's wishes.
"Okay, now that I've placated you somewhat, will you leave me alone to continually stuff my brain with knowledge I'll never ever need?" Rory asked wryly.
"Go on and conquer Europe, my favorite daughter. Maybe I'll see you at Luke's later?"
Without waiting for Rory's answer - her final question had been an obvious gag - Lorelai zipped out the kitchen door and left her daughter to study in peace.
Finally, she thought. Rory Gilmore was under a lot of pressure. Final exams were next week, and graduation the week after. And she hadn't even given a single thought to her valedictorian speech. To make things worse, there was the whole I-made-valedictorian-over-you confrontation she would have to have with Paris. And then of course, there was Jess to worry about. Thing were weird between them right now and she wasn't sure how to deal with it.
Her anxiety level was at an all-time high, and her patience for everything and everyone, including her own mother, was definitely at an all-time low.
"I just need to deal with one thing at a time," she assured herself.
She repositioned her textbooks on the kitchen table - AP European History, AP Composition & Lit., Calculus, French.
"Which do you plan to tackle first?" a deep voice drawled behind her.
Rory yelped in surprise and swiveled around to face the intruder.
He was a thin, fairly harmless looking man, outfitted in a brown, pinstriped suit that matched his dark, impenetrable eyes. But the thing she noticed first was his hair. It was thick and tousled, just like Jess's.
She had never seen him in town before. He must be a new neighbor or something, she thought as she allowed her heart rate to slow down.
"Sorry, I see that I've startled you. It's just that the kitchen door was open, which I thought odd and I decided to wander in," he explained.
He paused a moment, before carrying on the one-sided conversation.
"I suppose that's a bit rude, yeah?" he observed.
Rory snapped out of her reverie and nodded. "A little, yes."
"Well, I had the best of intentions. I thought something was out of order, and I was going to fix it. Because that's what I do - I fix things," he defended with a slight smile.
She couldn't help but smile back.
"So, I'm guessing you're not from around here, judging by your very inconspicuous accent," she mused.
The strange man nodded. "I just popped in for a visit...heard that Stars Hollow is the hot place to be."
"You're joking...you really are a tourist," she concluded when the man showed no sign of sarcasm. "Who even told you to come visit this place?" she asked incredulously.
"The TARDIS," he returned, crossing his arms in slight irritation.
"Who's a TARDIS? And what kind of ridiculous name is that?"
"How dare you compare the TARDIS to a human being? And it's not ridiculous," he huffed, clearly appalled by her words.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Okay, then, what is a TARDIS?"
The stranger immediately broke into a grin and he rubbed his hands together eagerly.
"Do you want to see it?" he asked, eyeing the front porch.
Rory bit her lip in hesitation. There was a strange man in a kitchen, whom she knew absolutely nothing about, offering to show her something called a TARDIS. He was rude, brash, and a bit moody even.
But she felt drawn to him and was seriously considering following him outside.
FINAL EXAMS, her biological alarm clock rang.
Damn you! She sighed.
"Sorry, it's been nice having what was probably the most bizarre conversation I have ever had, but I've just wasted ten minutes of precious studying time. I've got final exams coming up. So, I'll have to decline."
The man's smile faltered a bit, but just for a second before repeating his first question.
"So...which do you plan to tackle first?"
He was persistent, she noticed.
"Uh, I thought I'd start off with French..."
Rory faltered mid-sentence as the man drew closer, reached for the red French textbook, and waltzed out of the kitchen.
"Um...excuse me? What are you doing?" she hollered, becoming more and more irate at his rudeness. What is up with all the Dodger's in this town?
She was prepared to put her foot down and kick the man off the Gilmore property, but what Rory wasn't prepared for was the massive blue box on her front porch.
The man with the wild hair watched her in amusement, clearly enjoying her reaction.
"That...that," she pointed to the box in pure awe, "that's the TARDIS."
"Oh, aren't you a clever one?" he remarked.
Rory slowly circled the towering box on her porch. It was a blue police phonebox, just like the ones she had seen in her history textbook. It was clearly an anachronism, for Rory was sure that the style of the phonebox was of the '60s.
But that's not the point, she reminded herself. What on Earth was a British police phonebox doing on her front porch? And who exactly was this man, and why was he so eager to show it off?
"Who are you?" she asked gingerly.
"The Doctor," he replied immediately, as if he had been waiting for this question all along.
"Of course...you said you fix things, so obviously you are 'the Doctor,'" she muttered.
"Well..." he began, looking at her expectantly.
"Well, what?"
"Aren't you going to ask me about my name...er, title? A lot of people do, you know? It seems to confuse them," he continued.
"Look, there's a big, blue British box on my porch right now, and you're asking me whether or not I think your name is odd?" she returned, shaking her head.
"And you think I'm rude," he quipped sardonically.
"TARDIS...what does the name mean?" she asked, ignoring him.
"It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, which basically is a fancy-schmancy term for-"
"A time machine!" Rory interjected excitedly.
The Doctor smiled, seemingly surprised at her outburst but appreciative of her quick nature all the same.
"Well...not exactly...it does travel in time but it can also take you anywhere you want to go," he bragged.
The brunette shook her head in disbelief. She was now sure that she had collapsed on the kitchen table and had fallen into a deep sleep. What else could account for the bizarre scene in front of her?
"No, you're not dreaming," the Doctor concluded, as if he were reading her thoughts. "Time and space travel is very real. C'mon, it's not that surprising, since you humans are always trying to make it happen."
Rory said nothing. For the first time in her young life, she had no words to express what she was feeling. Though usually quick-witted and endearingly wordy, Rory Gilmore had been rendered completely speechless.
Again, the Doctor broke the silence.
"So...now you know a little about me, but I still know nothing about you...other than the fact that you are pretty sharp and mostly tolerable...what is your name?"
"It's Rory. Rory Gilmore...and what are you talking about? I know nothing about you! You are just a strange, mysterious man with a blue box who walked into my kitchen. For all I know, you might be a dangerous criminal who is planning to kidnap me and throw me in there," she accused as she looked toward the TARDIS.
She turned to face him once more, waiting for him to burst out laughing or dismiss her tirade entirely. But the merry twinkling in his eyes was now gone.
"Shame on you, Rory Gilmore. I would never do that. I have traversed through galaxies and have seen a hundred suns burn. I have saved the Earth time and time again from the never-ending disasters that you humans find yourselves in. I'm the Doctor, a traveler of both time and space - The Oncoming Storm. But the one thing I'm not is a petty criminal!" he exploded.
Rory was taken aback at his sudden outburst. The Doctor's face had changed entirely, from giddy and playful to dark and disturbed.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm just really confused and overwhelmed," Rory replied. "It's not everyday that I meet a time traveler, you know?"
"Time Lord," he muttered under his breath.
"Here I am, worrying about French finals and what I'm going to say to the entire student body at graduation and to Paris who's probably incensed at the fact that I made valedictorian over her. And I'm worrying about my boyfriend Jess who hasn't really talked to me since our fight at that stupid party. I mean we talked this morning on the bus, but that could barely be called conversation...but now I realize that there are things far crazier than my own problems...like the fact that a strange man has literally dropped out of the sky onto my porch in a blue police phonebox, because traveling through time and space is real, and I haven't had a cup of coffee all day, so I don't know how I'm going to finish any of this at all AND I JUST HAVE A LOT OF EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW!"
The Doctor's expression relaxed slightly, and he chuckled softly when she had finished her rant.
"It appears that we both are a bit wound up, wouldn't you say?" he asked.
She nodded as she let out a nervous laugh.
"But I know just the thing to make us feel better," he stated cheerfully, as he walked toward his blue box.
"And what exactly is that?"
"A short trip to anywhere you want!"
"A trip right now? Didn't you just get here?"
"Well, yes, but I see that you definitely need to take a break," he stated. "You're harboring a lot of unhealthy energy in your cerebellum-"
"But I can't...I've got-"
"I know, I know. Finals. Graduation. Boyfriend," he echoed. "Oh, come on, Rory...I can travel in space and time."
"I know - you said that already."
"No...I can travel in space and time, which means I can bring you back to this exact moment and you can pick up where you left off!"
Rory finally understood and her face lit up. "Oh my god, you're right!"
"I'm always right," the Doctor quipped smugly. "So, how about it?"
Rory thought for a moment. A part of her knew she shouldn't go - she had too many things on her to-do list. But then her deep yen for traveling pleaded with her. If the Doctor was indeed telling the truth, it wouldn't matter if she left. She could go traipse around the world with him and could be back in Stars Hollow before anyone had noticed she was gone.
Her face broke into a smile. "So, where are we off to then?"
He returned the sentiment with his own goofy smile and remarked, "I know just the place - Arabicano!"
"Arabi-what?"
"Arabicano! The Land of the Coffee Shops!" he chortled.
Rory's jaw dropped. Such a place existed?
"C'mon, spit spot!" he said, motioning her to follow him into the TARDIS.
As he opened the door to the blue box, Rory wondered how in the world they were both going to fit inside the tiny space. But she took a deep breath, smoothed her Chilton skirt, and followed the Doctor inside.
For the umpteenth time that day, Rory was stunned beyond words.
As the Doctor brushed past the shocked teenager to close the TARDIS door, he laughed silently.
"ALLONS-Y!"
I apologize if this chapter was incredibly long and dull! Please, please leave reviews as I would love to hear your thoughts on the story so far! Thank you! (And to readers of my other story who may be wondering why I've started a brand new story after having neglected the other one for so long...I promise you that it is not abandoned. I have found an awesome beta reader, and it's only a matter of time before I finish writing the next chapter.)