Time and the Serenity

1. Warm Welcomes

The Doctor sat on the edge of his TARDIS, the doors flung wide open and his red and white converse shoes dangling over the side. He stared out and sighed at the immense blackness that was before him, with the few tiny pinpricks of light that were spread far and wide across it.

He had realized lately that he needed to take more time to enjoy moments like this, just him and his thoughts. Not that he had much choice now, having nobody to travel with. It was as if suddenly the entire universe had heard that the Doctor was a terrible travelling companion and were keeping away from him at all costs. And, to be fair, he was a terrible travelling companion and keeping away was probably a good idea. Not that he was much in the mood these days, with Donna's memory wipe and Adelaide Brooks' suicide. He was constantly wary of anyone knocking more than three times near him, which he had come far too close to on Mars.

He shook his hand and gave himself a few slaps around the face. His purpose wasn't to think about all of that. He was going to relax here, for Clom's sake. He lay on his back, feet still hovering above the great darkness below and closed his eyes, breathing in and out. This was his time to, for once, relax. And nothing was going to spoil it.

Except the rather large ship that slammed into the TARDIS and sent him hurtling over the edge, just managing to grab onto the bottom of the blue box. He could see vague shapes of people moving around in the cockpit, undoubtedly aware of his existence. They quickly moved out of the cockpit, disappearing from the Doctor's view. The TARDIS had managed to stop them altogether, which was quite impressive for a wooden box about a tenth the size of his accidental assailant. The Doctor rolled his eyes and hoisted himself back up to the TARDIS, shutting the doors with an absent-minded backwards kick. He could never have just one moment to himself. Just a few minutes was all he asked. He could go to the Legendary Relaxation Planet of Vehe and still find himself facing a Dalek armada within minutes of arrival.

He gave another frustrated sigh and crossed to the console, cranking a few levers and spinning a few dials. He set a course for inside the ship, which he thought he had better take a look at, if only to exchange insurance numbers.

Did the TARDIS have an insurance number? Where would it be written? And would it be accepted in this time period? What time period was he even in? The Doctor was interrupted from contemplating the answers to these questions by the sound of the TARDIS landing.

He strolled over to the door, admittedly eager for another adventure and was met with a whole host of people in fairly worn-out clothes, some with guns in their well-displayed holsters. At first, they looked pleased to see the Doctor and then their expressions suddenly turned to confusion, followed promptly by them all aiming their guns straight at the Doctor, which looked quite old-fashioned for the era.

The one in the long brown coat heading up the group took a step forward, gun pointed squarely between the Doctor's eyes, a look of anger in his eyes.

"Now, Stranger, how about you tell me what you're doin' in the Doctor's TARDIS before I relieve you of it by force?" he asked, his aim unwavering.

The Doctor looked at each person individually, trying to see if he had met them at any point before. No bells were rung in his head and so he looked back at the group leader, suddenly realizing what he had just asked and responded with a loud, "What?"


"The 26th century, Amy! Wonderful century!" grinned the Doctor as he danced about the console, cranking a few dials and pulling a few levers and doing a little twirl for good measure. "2517 to be exact, so we can stop by and visit a few friends of mine!" Amy attempted to interject at this point but the Doctor either pretended not to notice her or was too distracted by nostalgia. "Malcolm Reynolds is a good chap, reminds me of myself when I was a bit younger. Jayne can be a bit…trigger happy but he's nice enough. Probably won't recognize me now that I actually have some style…"

Amy, rolling her eyes as the Doctor prattled on, noticed the absence of momentum in the TARDIS and realized they had landed, even though the Doctor hadn't noticed, now describing a Unification…something or other to himself. Amy decided to leave him to his own memories and promptly walked over to the TARDIS doors, pulling them open. It appeared as though they were in some sort of mess hall, as there was what looked like a kitchen nearby and there was a large table in the middle of it, with about 3 people sitting around it. A man in a brown trench coat, a rather too-intimidating man with a large rifle strapped to his back and a girl who stared at Amy like she knew she was coming, whereas the other two just looked shocked.

Well, for the few seconds before they decided to leap out of their seats and point their guns at Amy. Great.

"Umm…hi!" Amy grinned, more in terror than in genuine kind greeting towards the two heavily-armed men.

"Hello." replied the girl still sitting down and perfectly calm. She said it without a smile but still with a certain air of kindness, prompting a confused backwards glance from the taller, heavier-built man.

"Who are you and what are you doin' on my boat?" the man in the trench coat asked Amy, his stare unwavering. Amy felt more intimidated by him than she did by the larger man.

"I…uh…don't know. You'll have to ask…" Amy managed to stutter out and, right on cue, the Doctor came strolling out of the TARDIS, locking the door behind him and still talking as if they hadn't even left the box yet, his back turned to the two armed men behind him.

"…and of course I'll have to take you to Saint Albans at some point. Not the nicest place you'll ever go but they have the best baked beans this side of the universe!" He finally finished locking up the TARDIS and turned around to face the men, his face lighting up upon seeing the man at the forefront of the small group of three.

"Malcolm!" he called to the man with outstretched arms, walking towards him with a happiness that lit up the whole room.

Until Malcolm Reynolds shot the Doctor.