Another installment of the Doctor and his pal Merlin's adventures!

I'm trying to write this like a legit story from Doctor Who, so I hope you'll forgive the inclusion of the OC in here. She's just for this story.

"So… We're really moving right now?"

"Yep."

"Through space?"

"Mm-hm!"

Merlin leaned back against the rails inside the TARDIS. "This has been a really weird day. Even for me."

"Ah, yes, that reminds me," the Doctor flicked a switch and swiveled around to face the warlock. "What exactly is a powerful warlock like you doing as a Prince's manservant?"

Merlin cocked an eyebrow. "I never told you how powerful I was."

"I guessed," shrugged the Doctor. "You must be, considering you live right under the King's nose." Of course, it helped that he knew plenty about the Arthurian legends.

"Right… Well," the boy crossed his arms over his chest, staring pensively into the TARDIS console. "Do you believe in destiny, Doctor?"

"I try not to. Why?"

"Because someone told me that Arthur was going to be a great King one day… But only if I'm there to protect him. Now, I know that sounds crazy, but…"

"No, not crazy at all." The Doctor smiled softly. Merlin smiled back, and then coughed into his hand.

"Actually, Doctor, I was wondering… What are you? You're not a sorcerer, but you're got this box that's magically bigger on the inside…"

"Ah, ah, ah! Not magic!" the Doctor said. "It's dimensionally transcendental."

"…"

"… Science."

"Ah."

"As for what I am, I'm called a Timelord; from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous!" The Timelord bowed dramatically. Merlin chuckled in reply.

"And… Timelords, correct? You all have these… TARDISEs?"

The Doctor suddenly became quiet. He turned off the monitor and avoided Merlin's gaze.

"Doctor…?"

"We used to. You see, I'm the only one left."

Merlin's eyes widened. "O-Oh… Doctor, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No, no, it's fine!" He coughed to clear his voice. "I've gotten over it…"

"How can you get over being the last of your kind?" The warlock's head tilted to the left, searching the Doctor for a reply.

After a while, the Doctor gave him one. "Time," he said quietly. "If there's anything I have, it's time."

An awkward silence settled between them, the only noise being the various beeps and metallic echoes from the TARDIS.

"So!" shouted the Doctor, just a bit too loud; Merlin jumped at his exclamation. "Anywhere in the universe and all the time in the world- where do you want to go?"

Merlin smiled, happy for the change of subject. "I… I don't know, actually."

The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder. "Too many choices?"

"I don't know a lot about the world, much less the future. And time travel! I mean, are there rules? Certain places we can't go?"

"There are certain fixed points," the Doctor explained, "meaning events in time we can't change, no matter what. But, as long as no significant changes are made, everything should be fine."

Merlin was still hesitant.

"How about we let the TARDIS choose?"

"She can do that?"

The alien grinned proudly, spinning around the console like a child on his birthday. "Of course she can! Look!" Merlin walked over to where the Doctor was standing. He pointed at a wheel nestled deep among the gadgets on the console. "Just spin that, and she'll take us where it lands!"

The Doctor's enthusiasm was infectious, and Merlin found himself sharing the same childish grin as he spun the wheel; they both watched as it gradually came to a stop, and suddenly the TARDIS lurched forwards, sending them to their destination. Merlin grabbed the railing and looked at the Doctor, wondering if he should have been concerned about the bumpy flight. But the Timelord was laughing delightedly, giving the warlock a thumbs-up instead. Apparently, the turbulence was completely normal.

"There we are! Hmm…" The Doctor looked up at the screen, reading the date and location. "Ooh, 1892, London! Not a bad start!"

"And where is London?" asked Merlin, still winded from the ride.

"It's in the same country as where Camelot was, actually. It's a city, capital of Great Britain. And we've landed in its Industrialization Era!" He turned to see Merlin's reaction, but the young boy only seemed more confused.

"Indus… what?"

"I'll show you," smiled the Doctor. "Oh, but first, you might want to change. You'd stand out a bit in those clothes."

Merlin's eyes went down, observing his servant's attire. Then he gave the Doctor a look. "And you won't?"

"Oh, I'll be fine. Now, the wardrobe is up the stairs, first right, second left, there should be a big sign on the door that says 'Wardrobe'. Off you pop." He flicked the back of his hand towards the door in a shooing motion.

Merlin shook his head with a small smile, slowly growing used to the Doctor's eccentric ways, and departed to find the wardrobe.

"And the TARDIS has laid out some Victorian-Era stuff, just take your pick!" shouted the Doctor as an afterthought. Merlin shouted back confirmation that he had heard.

The Doctor let the silly smile remain on his face; Merlin was already proving to be an interesting companion, and they hadn't even set foot outside of the TARDIS. He wondered if there were repercussions to taking a legendary figure out of his timeline- then again, he thought, he'd done much worse. In fact, it was already strange that he had encountered an alternate version of Camelot to begin with; Arthur wasn't some illegitimate son, magic was banned, and Merlin was an actual person and not a title.

He thought back to a few weeks ago, when he faked his own death. The affair wasn't exactly what he'd call a happy memory, but it had kept his friends safe, and that's what mattered. But here he was, with a new traveling partner, and it had all happened so fast. Briefly he wondered what Amy and Rory would make of Merlin; Amy did mention that she loved legends, so she was probably familiar with King Arthur and his story. And Rory would be skeptical about his magic until Merlin showed it to him, and River… Oh, the Doctor didn't want to think about what she would do to the young warlock.

But still, maybe one day…

'No, Doctor!' he said to himself, shaking his head. 'This is just a thank-you trip! Merlin's got a destiny to take care of! He can't go off having adventures with you!' He exhaled deeply, glaring at his reflection in the console.

"Lonely idiot…" he muttered.

"What?" Merlin's voice came from the top of the stairs, making the Timelord turn around.

"Ah, nothing! Just talking to myself." The Doctor looked his new companion up and down. "Don't you look lovely!"

Merlin dressed simply, wearing a plain white shirt and dark blue vest, over which he threw on a black jacket. His trousers were also black, and on his feet were simple brown shoes. But what stood out to the Doctor, however, was the blue neckerchief still tied around his neck.

"… Kept the neckerchief, though, huh?"

Merlin coughed into his hand, embarrassed. "I feel more comfortable with it on, thank you very much. It's not like you're not wearing something odd around your neck."

Instinctively, the Doctor's hand shot up to fix his bowtie. "It's a bowtie," he protested, "and I'll have you know, it's very cool."

He rolled his eyes. "Mmhm."

"Anyway, shall we go? I know a good restaurant we can eat at; and there's this lovely park a few blocks down from there."

"Sounds good."

The Doctor opened the door and let Merlin walk out first, following after and locking the TARDIS behind him.

"By god, we really have moved…!" The warlock was staring, wide-eyed, at eh scenery; the TARDIS had landed in the middle of an alley, presumably to make the big blue box less conspicuous to any discerning civilian.

"Pretty impressive, eh?" said the Doctor, puffing his chest out with pride. "We're about 1300 years in your future."

"1300?!" shouted Merlin, facing the Timelord. "We're that far!?"

"Don't worry about it! This is your vacation!" He pushed Merlin out of the alley and into the streets of Victorian London.

The Doctor had had companions from the past before, so he knew what to expect when he brought them to the future; of course, they were always fascinated with the new technology, the new settings, and there was always the overwhelmed feeling that left them sitting down for a couple of minutes, just thinking about the possibilities of the future.

Merlin, for the most part, kept up those habits.

He did, in fact, try not to gape at the carriages and lamplights (and he slapped the Doctor when he caught him smirking), and the tall stone buildings were definitely more impressive than the huts back home in Camelot- though, he argued, the castle was still more striking. But they spent two hours after checking out that restaurant running around, seeing all that they could see. It was quite exhausting, though the Doctor found that he didn't mind; it felt nice to run without a dangerous predator on his tail.

The warlock did eventually collapse on a park bench, but his face was covered with a bright smile, and his eyes were still surveying the streets with curiosity. The Doctor fell onto the seat next to him, trying to catch his breath and still his quickened heartbeats.

"You're much faster than I thought a manservant would be," commented the Doctor.

Merlin laughed. "Arthur's always bringing me along whenever he goes out; running is practically in the job description. And you keep up quite well, for someone who travels in a box."

"Oi," he scolded jokingly. "I'll have you know, there's an awful lot of running involved in my travels."

"I imagine you get into a lot of trouble, then."

"You have no idea, Merlin. No idea at all."

Suddenly, the warlock looked over the Doctor's shoulder. "What is that?" he asked, squinting his eyes. The Doctor followed his gaze until it landed on a gathering crowd of people. Their din could be heard even at that distance, which was at least several feet. The Doctor looked back at Merlin and grinned.

"Let's find out!"

The duo got up from their seats and made their way to the crowd, where it became distinctly clear there was some sort of argument going on. Sure enough, when they were close enough to peer into the center of the crowd, there was a young woman yelling her head off at an older gentleman.

"What do you mean, 'it's useless'?! I didn't pay you one hundred sovereigns to just quit!" Her brunette tresses fell out of her bun as she yelled.

"Is… Is that a lot?" Merlin muttered to the Doctor. He nodded.

"Enough for a nice dinner and a few new suits. Wonder where she got the money…?"

One of the spectators turned around and gawked at the pair. "You don't know who that is?" he asked incredulously.

The Doctor blinked. "No… Should we?"

"That's Margaret Sheffield, heiress to the Sheffield Electric Company fortune! Haven't you been reading the news?"

"We just popped in, actually," he replied, sneaking a side glance to Merlin, who looked confused. "What's an heiress doing ranting off in the middle of the street?"

"Miss Sheffield's parents went missing a week ago, so she's hired some private detective to find them; guess he didn't do so well, poor bloke."

"The owners of a big company went missing?"

"Aye, kidnapped, according to Miss Sheffield. The Yard hasn't found anything either."

"The Yard?" Merlin whispered to his friend.

"Scotland Yard: the law enforcement of London," he answered back.

All three of them snapped their attention back to the angry Margaret Sheffield, who had slapped the detective and stormed off, shooing away the crowd with a vexed gesture.

"That was… odd," said Merlin. "But I feel sorry for her. To have your parents missing…"

"Mmhm," the Doctor mumbled, though he didn't appear nearly as sympathetic, only intrigued. "What do you say we go and comfort the young lady?"

"How would we do that?"

"By listening; come on!"

They quickly caught up to the heiress, who had the disadvantage of Victorian-Era heels slowing her down.

The Doctor called after her. "Excuse me! Miss Sheffield! Beg your pardon!"

"What?!" she hissed, whipping around angrily. "If you're another reporter, I swear…!"

"No, no, not reporters!" He held up his hands in surrender. "My friend and I were just wondering what happened."

Margaret scrutinized the two of them. "… Read a newspaper, I haven't got time to tell stories."

"Oh, but please, we want to hear it from the source! You know the papers; when do they ever get it right?"

"Why should I? Like I said, I need to get going."

The Doctor huffed, clearly growing impatient with the young lady.

"Where are you going?" ventured Merlin, who decided to try and help. Margaret frowned, displeased that she was still being held up.

"If you must know," she barked, "I'm going to find a detective who won't quit after three days!"

Merlin replied calmly, as if he were chatting with a friend. "Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Actually… yes, I do." Margaret's tone softened. "I'm looking for a Madame Vastra. She's supposedly the Great Detective who closes all the cases the Yard can't figure out."

"She sounds remarkable," smiled Merlin.

The heiress smiled back, and even blushed a bit. "Yes. The only problem is, I don't know where she lives…"

"And that's where we can help you!" the Doctor shouted, making Margaret jump.

Her demeanor again turned sour. "And how are you going to do that?"

"You see, Madame Vastra is an old friend of mine. We can take you to her."

"We can?" asked Merlin.

"We can! So, my lady, may we escort you?" He extended a courteous hand to her, which she pointedly ignored.

"I… suppose you could show me the way to her home. But that's it."

The Doctor retracted his hand, his smile faltering. "Fair enough. How do you feel, Merlin?"

The warlock shrugged. "I guess it's fine."

He clapped his hands together. "Excellent! To Madame Vastra!"

Margaret called a cab for the three of them, and the Doctor gave directions to the driver. The heiress spent most of the ride batting her eyelashes at Merlin and asking him questions. The Camelot native answered as elusively as he could, trying to avoid revealing he was actually from the past. The Doctor… well, he was trying his hardest not to roll his eyes.

They drove up to Vastra's address, allowing Margaret to exit first.

"This is it?" she asked, sneering her lip. "It's quite small."

"Madame Vastra likes cozy places," answered the Doctor. He went up to the door and lifted the knocker, tapping it against the wood three times. It took 30 seconds exactly before the door creaked open, revealing a rather pretty young woman in a maid's uniform.

"Yes, how may I- Doctor?" The woman clearly seemed shocked to see the Timelord. He bowed graciously.

"Hello, Jenny my dear! Is the Madame in?

Her mouth moved up and down several times before she swallowed, collecting herself.

"Y-Yes. Allow me to show you and your…" Jenny peered over his shoulder to observe Merlin and Margaret, who were standing uncertainly behind the alien. "… friends inside."

She bowed and let the three of them enter. The door closed behind them with a gentle click, and then she took her place at the head of the party to lead them, presumably, to Madame Vastra.

"By the way, where's Strax? I thought he was your doorman." The Doctor asked conversationally.

"Ma'am let him take a vacation. I think he's in a tavern in Ireland right about now."

"Fighting the natives, no doubt." He chuckled. "Good ol' Strax."

"Your friends have very strange names." Margaret muttered.

"I pride myself on having strange friends." He winked at Merlin, who smiled in reply.

Jenny led them into a sizable parlor, filled with tropical plants and flowers. Margaret fanned at herself with an air of disdain.

"It's a bit too humid, don't you think?"

Jenny gave a clipped reply. "Ma'am prefers it that way."

"Who's there, Jenny?" A woman wearing a black veil was seated in an armchair, holding a teacup and a saucer.

"It's the Doctor, Ma'am. And his two friends."

The woman sat up immediately. "Doctor? Is that really you?"

He opened his arms with a grin. "Hello, Madame! How long has it been?"

Her smile was barely visible through the veil. "It's been a few months since Demon's Run. Five, I think."

"Ah. So a long while, then." The Doctor bowed his head, embarrassed.

"Ah-hem." Margaret cleared her throat. "If the catching up is quite done?"

"Oh! Yes, Vastra, I've brought you a case, if you're up for it!" He gestured to the two young adults behind him. "This is Margaret Sheffield, an heiress, and Merlin, a companion of mine."

Margaret crossed her arms indignantly, but Merlin at least had the decency to bow.

Madame Vastra laughed. "Another new companion? Why Doctor, they're getting younger and younger."

Merlin looked confusedly at the Doctor. The alien glowered like a child, waving his hand to dismiss the manner.

"Jenny," the woman ordered, "could you bring us some tea?"

"Right away, Ma'am." The maid curtsied and left the room, looking back at the Doctor one last time.

"Now, Doctor, what is this case you spoke of?" She moved to lift her veil, but stopped short.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Margaret suspiciously. Madame Vastra frowned.

"I'm simply used to talking face-to-face with the Doctor; others are often… shocked when the veil is removed."

"If you're talking about scars, save it. I want to see the face of who I'm hiring!"

Vastra looked to the Doctor.

He shrugged. "Might as well."

The detective nodded and pulled her veil back, revealing a scaly, green monster underneath.

Merlin stepped back, but Margaret took it a step further and fainted at the sight of her.

"Typical human reaction," Vastra hissed. Then she caught Merlin's stare. "… Why haven't you fainted?"

"Well, Ma'am," he started, voice cracking a bit, "no offense, but… I've seen bigger lizards."

The Doctor burst into laughter.

Yea-uh.

Soo... Read and Review? I especially want to know what you guys make of Margaret. She's not exactly the kind of girl people like.

And finally: I LOVE MADAME VASTRA. She's one of my favorite characters EVER, and she seriously deserves a spin-off! I adore Jenny and Strax too!