Title: Past, Present, Future
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Warnings: Spoilers for WW, references to 2x5 of the newest incarnation of Doctor Who.
Summary: Cleaning up the aftermath of the War, Dairine spends an afternoon at the Crossing. There's a police box there, bigger on the inside than the outside.
Author's Note: I love crossing Young Wizards. They live in such a strang combination of normalcy and fantasy. I wouldn't have thought to cross Young Wizards and Doctor Who, but if you look at the page in the ErantryWiki for The Man at the Crossings and the page for Five on Wikipedia... you'll see why I had to try.
Dairine was deep in conversation with Sker'ret trying to figure out what to do next with the repairs to the Crossings when she heard a very strange sound. It was a pulsating, grinding, high pitched sound that somehow made her think of the universe opening to all possibilities. Sker'ret was called off by one of his brothers, and headed off to stop whatever new crisis was occurring. Dairine went to go investigate the sound.
There, around a couple of corners, was a blue police box. "They have those?" Dairine asked no one, but she stayed behind the wall that she peered around. It looked very Earth-like and Dairine was wondering how the heck it had gotten there.
A girl emerged, dyed blonde hair and rather ridiculous clothing. Lots of zippers, but Dairine supposed that it was in style. Following her was a man with floppy hair, a brown suit with blue pinstripes, and a brown trench coat. Dairine thought it was quite snappy.
"Where are we?" said the girl, looking around in wonder at bank of pay phones. That was what they were, essentially. Dairine supposed they were impressive payphones.
"We are at the Crossings Intercontinual Worldgating Facility, on the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. You're a long way from home."
"But it's present day," said the girl, a question in her voice. She was looking around rather cockily, as if she owned the place. Dairine rather resented it, Sker'ret owned it, or at least his family did.
"Why, yes, it's present day. There's a good many pubs here – some of the finest in the Universe." He looked up at the ceiling and made a pleasurable sound. "Did you know that every society has a drink called Gin and Tonic?" The man put his hands deep in his pockets and rounded the corner, right into Dairine. Dairine hadn't had the time to understand the implications of the girl's question – and the man's answer – (time travel?) when she was nearly knocked to the ground. She used the wall to steady her. "Do I know you?" asked the man, peering down his nose as one might down a microscope.
"Dai stihó?" ventured Dairine, seriously doubting that this man was a wizard.
"Dai!" he said, in enthusiastic greeting. He grinned widely and shook Dairine's hand enthusiastically.
"Who's this, then?" asked the Blonde girl. She hooked a thumb to point, and Dairine was unimpressed with what must have been attempted discretion. The girl looked at her carefully. "You're human?" asked Rose, sounding surprised.
"If you are," said Dairine, projecting the same dubiousness. "Who're you? Who's he?" she pointed at the man. Who were these people who had come to the Crossings in a manner other than that was normal? (Ha, normal, thought Dairine.) And what did they want?
"I'm the Doctor," he said, holding out his hand and shaking Dairine's.
"Rose. How can you be human if this is the present day?" asked Rose, but her question was ignored as metal tapping on metal sounded down the hallway.
"Sector 13B phases are out of alignment," said as a bug-like metal thing scuttled up to Dairine's shoe. Dairine bent down to pick up Spot and the Doctor froze. His mouth dropped open.
"Doctor who?" asked Dairine, looking up. But the Doctor crouched and pulled out a pair of glasses from his jacket pocket and squinted at Spot, leaving them both rather crouched on the ground.
"May I see?" he asked, and held out his hands. He sounded as if he was supremely excited, and Dairine handed Spot over with a raised eyebrow. "Extrodinary! Fascinating!" He paused and looked up at her. "What is it?"
"That's Spot. He's my manual. And my friend." The last part was added as the sort of statement she wasn't sure she always had to make. Some people got it, some people didn't.
The Doctor turned Spot over in his hands. Spot made unhappy whirring sounds.
"Spot is… special," Dairine offered. She held out her hands for her computer, and he was returned… but the Doctor was reluctant. It was as if he smelled trouble.
"Special how?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He's a beta machine," said Dairine. "And he's conscious."
"Oh," said the Doctor, looking a little bit like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean when he realizes he's trapped. The image made Dairine laugh a bit. Savvy? she thought to herself. "Well," he clapped his hands. "I was just about to show Rose my favorite pub in all of the Universe. Care to join us?" Dairine was tempted. They clearly weren't wizards – Rose didn't seem to understand the concept, and the Doctor didn't seem to care.
"Are the outphases critical?" asked Dairine.
"A conscious computer?" hissed Rose at the Doctor.
"Negative. The outphases can wait."
"I'm so glad you understand," said Dairine. Dairine set Spot down on the ground and he waited for Dairine to make a move. "Lead the way," she said, gesturing for the Doctor to lead them to his favorite Pub. They walked along the corridors, an odd group: Two humans, one Doctor, and one scuttling laptop, low to the floor.
"What's wrong with the phases?" asked the Doctor. Again he looked as if he had found trouble, and it seemed it was preparing to deal with it.
"There was a large intervention here about a week ago when magic was slowly dying because of the discovery of dark matter." It was the easiest explanation of what had happened, it was the one she had given her dad, but it wasn't truly technical. It was more than an intervention. It had been war. "Needless to say, the hyperspace portals at the Crossings need some adjustment to return to normal operation."
"And the new dimensions of space," he offered.
"Yes," said Dairine, surprised that he understood. "Time and space do have new dimensions. It's why magic wasn't working."
"Is that why the TARDIS threw us into that parallel universe?" asked Rose.
"Well, I don't know," said the Doctor, screwing up his face and thinking. "It's quite possible. But, it's also possible that there was a rift – a gaping chasm in between universes much like the theory that …"
Rose looked at Dairine and smiled. "I often ignore him when he begins to go on like this," she confessed, and Dairine couldn't help but grin. The Doctor babbled on as they reached the pub and sat. He suddenly stopped and looked meaningfully at Dairine. She looked not so meaningfully back, managing to place Spot on the table at the same time.
"Why is this the best pub in the universe?" asked Rose, opening the menu that sat on the table.
"The most interesting characters come through here," said the Doctor. "There was once a ginger girl who was chased by Satrachi who ran through the pub…" He looked significantly at Dairine, raising an eyebrow and fixing one eye on her.
"Do the Satrachi come through here often?" asked Dairine, leaning back in her chair, looking intently at the man. There was some strange familiarity about him, but it was certainly nothing that Dairine understood. It was like Roshaun, who just had this… aura that people were drawn to. Dairine put the thoughts of Roshaun out of her head as quickly as possible.
Their table was close to the bar, but Rose stood to order drinks – and returned with a pint for everyone. Dairine didn't bother to point out that she was under age, or that she was on Errantry. "What are Satrachi?" asked Rose, sipping her drink and cutely putting it down on the table as she wiped her lip.
"They're a big, bug-eyed species that smell like coffee grounds," said the Doctor, who leaned on his elbows and hunched his shoulders and moved his pint very little to drink from it. "Nasty sort."
Dairine, however, had become very still. Moving just her eyes she scanned the room. Was this the pub she had run into when the BEMs were after her? Were the BEMs called Satrachi? She racked her brains for the answers. "Ginger? Redhead?" asked Dairine, the Doctor nodded. "Tell me more about this little ginger girl," said Dairine, after a moment.
"She was carrying a laptop computer," he said, shrewdly, and fixed that one eye on her again. Rose was staring at the both of them, wondering what the heck was going on.
"She's got ginger hair and a laptop," said Rose, as if she was participating in solving a mystery.
"You're not him," said Dairine, with certainty. "You're not him, you don't look like him. She pushed back from the table, but didn't quite stand. "How are you him?"
"Never did catch your name," said Rose, who was looking at Dairine as if she was poaching on some territory, a little bit predatory. Who was this girl, and why was she threatening the Doctor?
"Never did tell you," said Dairine, standing now. "Dairine," she said a second later, figuring it was rude to withhold the information irrationally. What were they going to do, stalk her?
"Dairine," said the Doctor. "Good to meet you," he paused. "Again, that is."
"That was you?" asked Dairine, surprised beyond words. Dairine Callahan was not one to be surprised. Dairine Callahan was the type that always knew what was going on. Dairine Callahan was never caught off guard, until this man, this Doctor… said hello again from a different body.
"It was me," he said, gently. "What happened to you that day?"
Dairine was quiet. She sat and looked down at her untouched pint on the table. "It's rude to ask what happens on a Wizard's Ordeal."
"It's hard for a Time Lord to discuss their secrets." The Doctor leaned close to her. "I have thirteen lives."
Dairine laughed. "I have heard some extraordinary things, but that one…"
The Doctor picked up Dairine's hand and put it to his chest. "I have two hearts." She could feel the alternative beating under her hand. She stared at her hand and then up at the Doctor. "What happened to you that day?"
"I…" Dairine blinked. "I… ended up on a planet made of silicon. Spot found that the planet was…alive. And…I helped… create… a species. I named them. I made them all wizards. And then we fought the Fairest and Fallen. My sister came, with Kit… and they helped me."
"But you survived," said the Doctor.
"I survived," said Dairine. "I… we… won. We finished what Nita started on her Ordeal… or facilitated it… the Fairest and Fallen will be redeemed."
The Doctor took her hand away from his chest and squeezed it. "Good." He let her hand go and sat back in his chair. "Too often… the people I try to help die. That you triumphed?" He didn't finish the statement. Rose reached over and squeezed his arm.
They sat for a moment, and no one spoke. Finally the Doctor took a deep breath and said, "Well, Dairine of Earth in the Present Day… we first met six hundred years ago in my own far future… I think we will meet again."
Dairine nodded. She stood and tapped Spot at the same time Spot opened and did the equivalent of a yawn. "Those outphases?" she asked.
"Need attention," said Spot. Dairine lifted him off the table and set him on the floor. She nodded at the Doctor and Rose.
"Thanks," she said, and began walking out.
"Great pub," Rose said. Dairine laughed at Rose's tone of voice – she was clearly confused as to what just happened.
Maybe Dairine was too.