Authors note at the bottom.
Alabama; Landown Parish; 2005.
As the sun slowly sets causing long, dark shadows of cacti to creep across the dusty floors of Landown Parish, a pair of heavy boots came to stop in front of a small bar. Reaching a leather clad hand forward to push the bar doors open, the owner of said heavy boots slowly made their way across to the room. A folksy song playing on the jukebox created a comfortable country atmosphere as its residents spoke softly to one another.
Behind the bar stood a short blonde woman picking at a washcloth in her hands and chatting idly with an elderly woman sat in front of her. "You are higher than a Georgia pine, Miss Gloria!" exclaimed the blonde, flicking the washcloth at her. Miss Gloria threw her head back and laughed, her eye caught the stranger standing in the doorway.
"Hey, Blue. You got a customer, darlin'." Blue eyes flicked over to see a tall, dark haired man, wrapped head-to-toe in leather. Putting on her best smile, she sauntered over to his side of the bar.
"Hey there, sir! What can I get ya?" she said with a thick southern drawl, leaning a hip against the side of the bar and crossing her arms. Even if she squinted she couldn't see any part of his face, his eyes were covered with dark, round glasses and a black scarf on the lower half of his face. As he strode closer to the bar, Blue's head slowly began to lean back. He must have been over 6 foot 6.
"I am looking for a man." His unnaturally deep voice sent shivers down her spine. Blue swallowed thickly, but refused to be intimidated by him. Her Nana taught her how to stand up to this kind of men. Head high, bright smile, you are in control. Clearing her throat, she waited for him to continue.
"He should be here soon." He slid on to a bar stool and placed his hands on his thighs, it looked like he was literally going to sit there and wait for whoever this man was. Blue raised an eyebrow at this before speaking up.
"Well, you can't sit here if you ain't got a drink, sir. What'll it be?" she narrowed her eyes at him, she knew he definitely wasn't local to Landown Parish. Everyone knew everyone around here. She couldn't even tell where his accent came from. She wasn't going to ask though. "How 'bout a nice glass of Ice tea?" she suggested after a few seconds of silence.
"Water." He said simply.
"Well, alrighty then." The blonde muttered and walked away to get him his drink.
-split-
2 hours later, the mystery man was still there, glass of water still full in front of him. Blue had kept an eye on him as she went about her work. He stared (well she assumed he was staring through his dark glasses, for all she knew he could be sleeping) at the wall behind the bar that was filled with a range of glasses, red wines, and spirits. The bar had started to empty out half an hour ago leaving only them. The music had been turned off, and Blue was slightly nervous about telling this man that he had to leave. Biting her lip she casually wiped down the bar and inched closer towards him.
"So…" she started, drawing his attention. She picked up a coaster to avoid looking at him. "We're gonna be shuttin' up shop in a minute or two. Maybe you should contact your friend and reschedule or somethin'?" She suggested, shrugging one shoulder, eyes trained on the bottle dents embedded in foamy coaster. After around 20 seconds of silence, she risked glancing up to see the man's face turned towards her. He quickly stood up, knocking the bar stool over and stormed out the bar, leaving the doors to slam closed behind him. The blonde stood there wide eyed, staring at the flapping bar doors.
"Well, good night to you too, sir." Dropping the coaster, she picked up his glass and poured the water down the side sink. Walking around the bar she began to collect the salt and pepper pots to store them at the waitresses' station.
BANG!
Blue jumped at the loud noise that vibrated through the bar, and dropped a pepper pot causing it to smash to pieces on the wood floor. She flew to the doors and pushed them open, only to squeal and cover her face from the dust being blown up by a strong wind. As the dust settled, Blue slowly stepped outside looking for could have possibly made such a loud noise. There was nothing but a startled bird flying away in the distance and the still floating dust to show that anything had actually happened. Frowning, she turned around and walked back into the bar, locking the doors behind her.
Spying the pepper that covered the floor she threw her head back with a loud sigh. She stalked over to the smashed pepper pot and got some napkins and spray to dab up the pepper. Picking up the broken bits, she sliced her finger. "Ouch!" she tutted and flopped down on the floor, flicking some of the pepper in the air. Bringing the finger up to inspect the cut, it wasn't that deep, but there was a steady blood flow. She rubbed her nose with her free hand as the pepper started to fly up it. Scrunching up her face she sneezed loudly.
"Bless you!"
Blue screamed before whipping around to see who spoke. A tall man in a worn leather jacket stood at the bar entrance. The doors that she had just locked were open behind him. She sat there, wide eyed before jumping up and pointing a finger threateningly.
"Hey! No cash is left in the till at night! If you're fixin' to steal somethin' there ain't nothin' worth it! Now get on outta here before I knock you so hard you'll see tomorrow, today!" The tall man raised his eyebrows high on his forehead, when her finger caught his eye. "Are you alright?"
"Finer than a frog hair!" she exclaimed sarcastically with a bright smile. He frowned.
"Your hand, I mean. Let me have a look." With every step he took towards her, she took one backwards. He sighed before stopping and holding his hands up in a calming gesture. "Look, I'm not here to steal anything, I was looking for someone. Someone who was meant to be waiting for me here. I must have got the time wrong." He looked around the bar as if he would pop up in front of him any second.
Blue narrowed her eyes at him, not sure whether to believe him or not. "There was a man here earlier, all wrapped up in leather like yourself." The tall mans snapped back to her looking concerned.
"He stormed out of here not two minutes ago all red faced. Was it important?" Blue didn't like to pry, but she was curious about the man made of leather and big ears here. Oh my! If her grandmother could hear her thoughts she could get one smack around the head. "He wanted something off me, something I couldn't give him so I came to offer him something else." The tall man said distracted, looking for something inside his jacket.
Blue didn't like the sound of that and quickly flicked her eyes towards the shotgun nestled under the bar before turning back to the stranger. She needed keep him talking so she could grab it. "What's your name? If he comes here tomorrow I could let him know, or I give him a note from you or somethin'." Blue inched her way towards the bar trying not to draw too much attention to what she was doing.
"I'm The Doctor." He seemed to find what he was looking for, but kept it where it was and refocused his attention on her. He quickly guessed what she was doing.
"Doctor who, exactly? Can't just write 'from The Doctor' all cryptic like." She slipped behind the bar just as 'The Doctor' walked up to a bar stool and slid onto it. "Just 'The Doctor' thanks. And it's not cryptic!" He pouted, picking up the coaster and dragging his fingers along the edges. Blue saw her opportunity.
"Well, I'll just grab you a pen and paper." She reached down to wrap one hand around the shotgun, ready to pull it out when-
SLAM!
The leather clad man from earlier crashed his way into the bar breaking them off their hinges and stormed towards The Doctor. "Get down!" The Doctor shouted at her and jumped up quickly shoving his hand in his pocket. Blue grabbed the shot gun and aimed it at the man. The leather man barely noticed as she pumped the shotgun. A buzzing noise drew her attention to what The Doctor was pointing at the leather clad man. A long silver cylinder with a blue light at the end was clutched in his hand.
"What good is that gonna do?!" Blue look at him incredulously.
"THIS!"
The leathers mans movements became jerky, until he finally stopped mid-step with his hand raised, fingers clutching towards The Doctor. Blue lowered the shotgun and moved forward, keeping her eyes fully trained on him. As she came up to his side, she poked him with the single barrel, and he slanted to the side a bit before moving back. "Right then!" The Doctor exclaimed, putting his cylinder back in his pocket and clapped his hands before rubbing them together, a cheesy grin on his face. Blue couldn't help but smile back. "Let's have a look shall we. Oh, and you're gonna want to put the shotgun down now. I don't like guns." He said, with a slightly dark look in his eye. She put the shot gun down with a huff before saying "Well, you can't blame me! A strange man breaks into my bar only to have leather face here come storming in after him like a bull in a china shop! I'm a small woman!" The Doctor rolled his eyes before pulling the man's glasses and scarf from his face.
A green, alien face stared back at them. His eyes with the size of oranges, only big, black and shiny. His green skin was dotted with darker green spots where a nose would have been, if he had one. His dark green lips were twisted into a snarl, pointed, pale green teeth visible. Blue stared at the creature in front of her, as the Doctor pulled out his toy and buzzed all around him, circling him slowly. "Well, I'll just swaney." The Doctor popped up and looked over the leather mans shoulder with his eyebrows drawn together. "What?" he asked.
"He's-.. He's an alien.. right?" Blue said hesitantly.
"What, the green skin didn't give it away?" The Doctor scoffed and walked to stand next to her, peering at the cylinder.
"What is that? With the blinky light and the buzzing?" Blue asked, trying to distract herself from the black orbs, they were freaking her out.
"It's a sonic screwdriver." The Doctor said, seemingly impressed with himself.
"A sonic what now?"
"A sonic screwdriver! Helps me get in and out of places, open locks, blow up stuff. Oh no." He looked up from the sonic screwdriver to her confused face. "He's gone way past his normal salt levels. This is not good." He ran out the bar doors. "Hey! Where're you goin'?! Doctor!" Blue huffed in frustration. She eyed the alien before running after him.
She saw a leather back walk around the corner of the bar so she sped up to catch him. Turning the corner she ran face first into something hard and fell flat on her backside. Holding her nose as tears came to her eyes, she swore loudly. "Hey!" She looked up to see The Doctor leaning out the door of a big, blue wooden box. "Don't hurt my ship!" he said slightly frustrated as he stroked where he guessed she had ran into it. Blue glared at him from the floor.
"Tell your ship not to hurt me! My nose hurts like hell!" she moaned standing up and wiping the dust off her backside. The Doctor stepped forward and held his hand out. "Let me look at it." Blue narrowed her eyes at him before lowering her hand from her face. The Doctor gently pressed on either side of her nose trying to determine if it was broken. "Nothing broken. I doubt it will bruise either. You're fine." He patted her shoulder gently. Blues eyes were drawn the door that the Doctor was standing in, or rather what was behind him. Her eyes widened and the Doctors crinkled in the corners as he grinned, watching her reaction to his marvellous machine. He stepped back to let her in. She looked at him in question, and he nodded, still grinning. She slowly peered in, holding onto the other closed door with one hand, leaning over the edge. "What- what- what is it?"
"Well, for one she's not an 'it' she's a 'She', and she is my magnificent time machin-"
"IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE!" She practically screamed in terror, making the Doctor jump. Blue stepped back quickly, eyes flicking all over the blue wood trying to figure it out. She ran around the outside of the box, not believing her eyes, running her hands over it and knocking the side. As she got back to where The Doctor was standing, she looked at him imploringly. "How- how is this possible?" "Oh, don't worry about that. Lots of big words that you wouldn't understand." Blue frowned and opened her mouth to speak but the Doctor spun around and walked back inside the box. He looked around to see her still standing outside. "Well, come on then! It's gonna get cold in here." Blue blinked and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "Now, as I was saying before, this is my magnificent time machine, The TARDIS. Time and relative dimension in space. T-A-R-D-I-S." He slotted the sonic screwdriver into the large circular console and pulled a screen around to him.
Blue walked up next to him to look at the screen, but all she could see were circles in different sizes floating about. Her eyebrows pulled together, she didn't know what he was looking at. "Time machine?" she asked him disbelievingly. "Yeah, it travels in time and space." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "OH!" Blue jumped as the Doctor ran over to a large chest by a small set of stairs. He chucked open the lid and began throwing things around before he pulled out a small glass jar filled with what looked like glitter. But it was moving like water. Glittery water? He came back to stand next to her and shoved the jar into her hands. Blue quickly grabbed hold before it dropped to the floor. "Pixie dust?" She said flippantly after inspecting it closely. The Doctor snorted and grabbed his sonic before wrapping a hand around her arm and pulling her back outside and locking the door. "Micro-magnetic sodium-chloride particles. It's like an adrenaline shot for the Segnadites." He explained as they walked back to the bar.
"The who?"
"The Segnadites. That alien back in the bar." The Doctor pushed open the bar door only to freeze in the doorway. The the Doctor held out his arm to stop Blue from coming in. Blue squinted into the dark bar trying to see what Doctor was looking at, or rather what he wasn't looking at. She realised that the alien – Segnadite - was nowhere to be seen. "Doctor, where did he go?" Blue breathed, starting to panic. "Alright, don't panic. He can't have gone far, I didn't hear his ship. I'll check in the back, you stay here. Don't wander off." The Doctor pulled out his sonic once again, and crouched low before sprinting over to the door to the left of the bar.
Blue stood in the doorway, holding the micro sodi-.. glittery water, scanning around to see if there were any movements. A few of the wine bottles rattled together, and that's when she noticed the shotgun was not where she had put it last. She practically stopped breathing, and put the jar down on the closest table. She snuck over to the side of the bar and crouched down, pressing her back against the wood. Slowly moving her head, she peeked around it to see the shotgun lying on the floor. Quickly crawling over to it she picked it up and scooted back against the coke glasses and held the gun to her chest, trying to calm her breathing. The bottles rattled to her left and she snapped her head towards the noise. There was nothing there, Blue squeezed her eyes shut and tried to listen. Then a hand was slammed over her mouth and nose, her eyes flew open. "DOCTOR!" She tried to scream but it came out muffled as a green hand ran past her eyes to clutch onto the top of her head and turned it sideways. She couldn't breathe as something slimy ran across the back of her neck. Her eyes bugged as something sharp pierced the skin and started to suck.
She looked around frantically as black dots started to swim across her vision. She needed The Doctor, she needed to get his attention somehow. She couldn't risk using the gun, the wide spray would get her as well. The bottles rattled as she struggled against her captors' hands and an idea came to mind. Kicking the coke glasses, they came tumbling down and smashed onto the ground.
The Doctor came flying through the door as Blue stopped struggling, feeling weaker and weaker. "OI, STOP IT!" he shouted before pulling the alien off her. Blue collapsed, she shook her head trying to get the foggy feeling in her brain to go away. The Segnadite grabbed hold of The Doctors shoulders and threw him across the room. He landed in a heap by the bar door.
Blue grabbed hold of the bar top and pulled herself up, nearly tripping over the gun. The Segnadite turned around to face Blue and screeched loudly making her throw her hands over her ears to stop the offending noise, screaming herself. He went to leap at her again before- "WAIT!" The Doctor jumped up and held his arms out. The Segnadite stopped and turned towards the Doctor, he was holding up the glass jar. "I have what you need to kick start the salt reproduction, I can't let you use the TARDIS it would cause a paradox and I won't allow that. This is the best I can do." He stepped forward and held the jar out to him. "So take this and leave, or I will have to do something about it." His face was hard, threatening.
The Segnadite seemed to take a second to consider his options before he snatched the jar out of his hands.
"This will save my people?" he said in his low voice. Blue swallowed loudly, what if he didn't take it?
"It will help." The Doctor finally said. The Segnadite nodded, before head-butting The Doctor, and walked out. Blue rushed up to The Doctor as he rubbed his head furiously. "I forgot about the damn customs on Segnide. And what did I tell you?! Don't wonder off I said, and what do you do? Wander off!"
"Hey! Don't go off with your pistol half cocked! I was looking for the missing shotgun! If he has picked that up and used it against you where would you be then? I know you like your sonic thingy but I don't think it's a fair fight against a gun. That would have been over faster than a knife in a phone booth!" Her face was red as she frowned up at The Doctor. He looked down at her and lowered his hand, smiling at her.
"You're right." Blue blinked, not expecting that. "Thank you, I would have died if he had. Are you alright?" He turned her head to look as the bite marks on the side of her neck, gently brushing his fingers over the wounds. Blue shivered at his touch before brushing him off. She nodded quickly. "I'm fine. What was all that about his people?"
"The Segnadites live on salt, and they have a bad habit of bingeing on it when they start to run out, defensive eating I call it. He wanted to use my time machine to go back and stop people from testing it on machines they were building to speed up production, but that would cause a paradox. The micro-magnetic sodium-chloride particles are like I said before, adrenaline shots, they inject it into the women who then produce the salt for everyone. What he was sucking out you before was salt, I have a little cup of jelly that'll fix that." He held open the bar door for her "Come on."
Blue hesitated for a second before walking out, The Doctor following close behind.
"How rude of me!" The Doctor said as he put the key into the TARDIS. "You've got my name but I haven't got yours yet."
"Blue. Blue Mae Woodham." She held out her hand to shake. The Doctor took it and shook it firmly.
"Well, hello Blue! Love the colour blue. Good name too!"
Blue blushed. "Aren't you just a tom-cats kitten?" she said grinning wickedly.
"What if I am?" The Doctor shot back cheekily. "Wait here a sec." He went up the stairs and through a doorway. Blue stepped up to the console to take a closer look at all the buttons, knobs and twisty things. They were so tempting to play with, she reached her hand forward and her fingers brushed a marble filled with frozen bubbles just as The Doctor came back down the stairs. She pulled her hands behind her back and smiled innocently as the Doctor frowned at her. He held out a small cup of orange jelly and a spoon. "Here, eat this. It will help." He said as he dragged her over to the captain's chair. She pulled the plastic lid off and dug the spoon into the jelly. Taking a bite, she saw The Doctor fiddling with some plasters. "What're those for?"
The Doctor looked up with his eyebrows raised. "Did you forget you cut your finger?"
She glanced down at her hands where there was crusted blood running down her middle finger where she has sliced it on the broken pepper pot. "Whoops." she said past a mouthful of jelly. The Doctor rolled his eyes before ripping open an antiseptic wipe and holding his hand out for hers. Blue huffed and trapped the spoon between her knees and resting the cup against it. She was feeling better anyway. The Doctor gently wiped away the dried blood and placed a plaster over the cut.
"There, all better."
"So today, I've had a man break my bar doors, slice my finger, almost break my damn nose, had the salt sucked out of me, and discover aliens are real. Really real. Are you.. are you an alien?" She asked him seriously. The Doctor looked at her, scrunching up the plastic wrapper in his hand.
"Yes." He said.
"Oh."
"Is that okay?"
She paused for a few seconds, The Doctor held his breath waiting for her answer. "It's wonderful." She said with a bright smile. The Doctor smiled back.
"Not many humans have that opinion."
"Eh, opinions are like assholes. Some are louder and smellier than the others."
The Doctor laughed loudly and took the spoon and cup, setting it on the console.
"So what d'you say?"
"Huh?" Blue frowned.
"Do you want to come with me?" the Doctor said with hope in his eyes. He liked this girl, something about her.
"Where?"
"Anywhere, anytime." He said, walking around the console.
Blue swallowed as she thought about leaving her grandmother alone, sleeping upstairs in the bar. And the bar! She couldn't leave her to the do that on her own! She was 87 for Christ's sake! What about clothes, she had nothing with her. She really wanted to. But she couldn't do that to her grandmother.
"I can't."
The Doctors face dropped. He looked down a fumbled with his fingers before snapping his head up and smiling. "Okay! I understand." He said, trying now to show how disappointed he really was.
"I really want to, but I have the bar to look after and my Nana, I mean she's 87 and she can't look after herself let alone a bar full of drunk men!"
"Yeah, it's fine." The Doctor replied.
"Really?"
"Yeah! I'm fine. I have all of time and space to look forward to."
"You're going to be okay?" Blue looked worriedly at him. The Doctor breathed through his nose as his hearts sped up slightly. "I'll be fine. Used to knockin' around this thing on my own." He patted her on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry." Blue said before throwing her arms around him. The Doctor froze, before sliding his arms around her. "Find someone to travel with, someone just as amazingly useful as I am." The Doctor snorted she leaned back. "Okay, if I have to." He said sarcastically. He walked her to the door and leaned on the doorway as she stood outside.
"So I guess I'll see you around, big ears." She grinned saucily at him.
"Hey!" He said, covering his ears and glaring at her.
Blue laughed and kissed him on the cheek. She froze, why did she just do that?! The Doctor swallowed and smiled as she pulled back.
"Don't you forget me now." She smirked.
"I promise." The Doctor replied.
A/N: Re-read the one shot and decided it needed more, and definitely some fixing up. Keeping the other one up for my own reasons though.
The next chapter should be uploaded later tonight, caused I've made you read this twice now.
Please review and let me know what you think!
B.